Ok below is the actual process, as experienced by myself and other friends and forum members, of applying for residency under the Federal Skiller Worker programme.

Please note that this process is only for applications received by CIO on or after 26th June 2010.

*UPDATE 29 June 2012*

As of 1st July 2012, CIC has put a pause on Federal Skilled Worker applications under what was previously known as Category 1. The new Category 1 are those who have a job offer from a Canadian employer. The new Category 2 are PhD.

The process below I am leaving here because I believe it remains very similar for those applying with a job offer, but if you don’t have a job offer or Canadian PhD then please note you cannot apply as a Federal Skilled Worker currently.

It is expected that the Federal Skilled Worker program will undergo a review and that changes will be announced before January 2013 when the doors are expected, in some form or other, to once again be open.

As soon as news of this is published I will publish it here.

Wayne.

1) CIO Sydney – Completeness check
Once your application arrives at CIO, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada the first thing that happens is it will undergo a completeness check. This check will ensure:
– That you have included all required forms
– That any forms which have space for a signature have been signed and dated
– That you have not left any blank fields
– That you have included the correct payment fee
– That you have included all supporting documents required by both the main CIO checklist, and the visa-office specific checklist

If unsuccessful your entire application will be returned to you by regular post with a covering letter. You will not get an email notification from CIO.

2) CIO Sydney – Payment charged
If your completeness check is successful your payment will be taken. This means CIO will attempt to charge your credit card, or they will cash your banker’s draft, depending on which method of payment you chose.

I would personally strongly advise using a banker’s draft if possible. These are like personal cheques but they are guaranteed to clear so there can be no payment problems. Most banks will usually charge a small fee for issuing one of these.

Credit cards can be risky. Many banks and credit card issuers use automated security software and when the software sees the source from Canada it may block the transaction, which in turn could lead to your application failing and being returned.

If your payment is unsuccessful your entire application will be returned to you by regular post with a covering letter. You will not get an email notification from CIO.

3) CIO Sydney – Eligibility review
CIO then perform a complete eligibility review on your application, based on the information you have provided on your forms and they will examine your supporting documents to ensure it backs up the claims you have made.

Since as of 1st July 2012 there is no longer an in-demand list, they will need to see an AOE (Arranged Employment Opinion) or positive LMO (Labour Market Opinion) with a TWP and this must be for a job in Skill Levels 0 (Managerial) or A or B on the NOC list.

For both categories they will also assess your application against the selection criteria – age, education, work experience, adaptability, job offer and language skils etc, to ensure you have 67 points. They will use your supporting documents to convince themselves that there is sufficient proof to back up the claims you have made on your forms in these areas.

If your eligibility review is unsuccessful you will receive an email stating the reasons and your entire application will be returned to you. Since CIO have already taken payment by this point they will initiate a refund of your fees, which will likely take several months to get to you. Please note this is the last point at which you will receive a refund if your application is unsuccessful.

At this stage your ECAS status should now read “CIO eligibility review complete”.

UPDATE 18-Apr-2011: Please note that several people have been told that you do not get your application back AT ALL if your application is failed at the eligibility review stage, all you will receive is a refund for your processing fee.

UPDATE 29-Jun-2012: FSW1 frozen for 6 months, so at the moment you need a job offer.

4) CIO Sydney – PER issued and file transferred
If your eligibility review is successful, CIO will send you a confirmation of positive final eligiblity review. This will be by email if you specified an email on your application, otherwise they will send a letter by regular post. They will then transfer your file to the CHC/VO (Canadian High Commission/Visa Office) for further processing.

Please see the “PER” page of this blog for the text of the PER and also the CIC email address from which it will arrive, so you can add this into your contacts list on your email.

Once the file gets to the visa office (which usually takes 2 to 4 weeks) your ECAS status will read “Received by visa office”.

5) 2nd AOR from visa office

Once your application arrives at the visa office, they will sit on it for a while. When they are in a position to process it most visa offices will send you a 2nd AOR. Please see the link at the top for an example of this, from Manila office and the wordings vary from visa office to visa office. Also some offices send by email, and others send by snail mail. There is still no need to do anything at this stage. A few visa offices, most notably London, will not send a 2nd AOR at all but will skip this and go straight to medicals, or ask for further documentation.

6) Processing begins – document background checks

Once the visa office begins processing your file they will commence with document background checks.

At this stage your ECAS status should now read “In Process” with the extra line in the detail “Your application was reviewed and we started processing on <Date>”.

This document background check will include ascertaining the authenticity of your documents, and since they use some third party companies for this it could take a varying level of time depending on your visa office, the complexity of your case, and even the speed of the individual visa officer looking at your case. They may also perform employment verification checks which will involve telephoning both you (whilst at work) and your employer to ensure you give the same answers on their questions about your employment. Only a small percentage of applicants are likely to receive employment verification. Only if they are unconvinced by any of the work experience documents you sent, or if your application is one of the random spotchecks they do to prevent fraud, will they actually perform the verification.

Visa office may request further documentation from you during the processing phase, which can come by email or snail mail. They may also ask for a few things (PCCs or fresh forms) at the same time as medicals (see below)

7) Medical requests and RPRF fee request

Once the document background checks are completed satisfactorily, the visa office will write to you (usually by snail mail) requesting you to complete medicals and also requests RPRF (Right of Permanent Residents fee). They may also ask for updated documents such as PCCs and fresh forms at this stage. Please note that New Delhi visa office will also request passports at this stage. Most other visa offices will not request passports until they are about to finalise the application.

This will basically involve your booking medical appointments at one of the approved DMPs (Designated Medical Practicioner) throughout the country. The fee will vary slightly from DMP to DMP, but they are usually around CAD $450 per person, obviously converted into your own currency.

RPRF at this time (18-Apr-2011) is CAD $490 for the principal applicant and also for accompanying spouse. So PA + spouse in total is CAD $980.

Like this:

815 responses to “The Process”

Thanks for all the info you have provided, It has been very informative.

I have just had my PER and am now looking forward to the next step. Do you have any more info on what i should be expecting next, 2nd AOR? After this letter how likely is it i will get a Canadian visa?

It is currently taking 85 to 90 days from the date your application arrives at CIO to getting eligibility review confirmation by email. A while ago it used to be around 110 days but CIO are getting faster now.

As for the rest of the process, it’s all very visa office centric. For example, some applicants from Manila and New Dehli have received 2nd AOR and medical requests already. 1 guy has reported already getting PPR, so he should just be a couple of months away from visa issue!

But other offices such as Damascus, London and Buffalo have not contacted any post-June-26 applicants at all yet.

So it is very hard to comment on general timelines after the CIO stage.

Hi,
Greetings!
Thanx for reply, i’ve submitted my complete docs on 3 Jan 11 (applicant of before June 26) and as of now my status shows that Centralized Intake Office Sydney (CIO-S) Eligibility Review Complete and after i click the link i get this:

We received your application for permanent residence on June 9, 2010.
We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on October 5, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
Your application and supporting documents were received by the Sydney, Nova Scotia – C-50 office. They are pending review.

I’m confused that as status shows review process is complete but while in detail why is it showing pending review..???

I’m becoming nervous and quite curious regarding my processing. Please advice me what to do, do i need to mail them or wait..
and why aren’t they mailing me? is everything OK?
Please help me out with your valued suggestions.
My VO: New Delhi
As System (IT) MGR.

Hi,
My PR application was reached on Nov-30, 2011. I have not yet received any mail from CIC yet. I sent status inquiry mail for which I got reply stating my application number and “It is currently awaiting assessment. Notification will be sent in due course.” on Jan 31, 2012.
Since that time, ECAS status shows In Process with only detail “Your application was received on Nov 30, 2011”

Can you please tell what would be status of my application now? Should I have received PER by this time?

WAYNE, I WORKED IN DUBAI, MY BACKGROUND BACHELOR AND MASTER IN MARKETING. COMPANY PROVIDE VISA FOLLOW UP CLERK . BUT ACCORDING TO MY EDUCATION I WORKED IN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE. SO I WPPLIED UNDER PNP AND SUBMIT TO CIC APPLICATION. SO O WHEN I RECEIVE POLICE CLERANCE IT MENTION THE OCCUPATION AS SAME AS VISA.. sO WILL I face problem? my company has provided certificate as a BDE. Please adavice.

Hi,
Greetings!
Thanx for reply, i’ve submitted my complete docs on 3 Jan 11 (applicant of before June 26) and as of now my status shows that Centralized Intake Office Sydney (CIO-S) Eligibility Review Complete and after i click the link i get this:

We received your application for permanent residence on June 9, 2010.
We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on October 5, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
Your application and supporting documents were received by the Sydney, Nova Scotia – C-50 office. They are pending review.

I’m confused that as status shows review process is complete but while in detail why is it showing pending review..???

I’m becoming nervous and quite curious regarding my processing. Please advice me what to do, do i need to mail them or wait..
and why aren’t they mailing me? is everything OK?
Please help me out with your valued suggestions.
My VO: New Delhi
As System (IT) MGR.

It means CIO have done your eligibility review (as you know) but once visa office have all your documents, a 2nd eligiblity review takes place as they look through your documents to see evidence of the claims you’ve made in your forms.

Please note that the process for pre-June-26 applicants is likely to be longer at the visa office since they have more work to do. However, the process I documented above is specifically for post-June-26 applicants and therefore the process won’t exactly apply to you.

I advise you to add this to the contacts on your email to prevent any further correspondence from CIO from going into your junk folder.

If there is no email at all, then contact CIO via the online system on their web site – they should be able to tell you the result of the eligibility review decision, and send you another email if needed.

thanks for reply all i want to now does it take that much time ( i mean six months now) i called cic and agent told me that they ding background check and it takes 30 weeks time for complete process but i have seen people geting aor/per ver soon where after writing 5-6 emails i only got one number which starts with e0000***.

First I will star by saying I appliyed unsder PNP program from Newfoundland. I send my completed application on January 18 . I did paid all the fees ($490 – $550 ),police certifecates, copy of LMO , copy of my job offer, copy of PNP certifecate .

After waiting for almost 2 1/2 mounths I inquire my representative to see was going on with my applications, and he has call to the embassy office this is the answer that he get’s from guatemala

______________________________________________

The Canadian Embassy in Guatemala has received your application and it is currently awaiting assessment. They cannot provide a definite timeline as to when the file will be finalized, but it may not be until next year when your file is fully processed.
Hope this is helpful.

I am new to this FORUM. Pls add me as a friend. I am a pre-June applicant. Details are: FSW1, Applied February-2010, First AOR: 14th June 2010, no idea about 2nd AOR, In March 2011 e-cas shown “In process” only for a week. after then no e-cas available. FSW category: teacher which is excluded from new list. Now no idea about what’s happening. Worried 2much. Appreciate your valuable comments.

Hi im karamjit i have applied for federal skilled worker 2014 as clinical perfusionist noc code 3214. My documents have been received on july 10th 2014 , how long will it take CIO to reply me or issuing file number.
Thanks
Regards
Karamjit

I have send my application in Nov 2010 under 4152 category and i have heard nothing from cio . After sending them couple of emails I got response from cio with immigration number that starts with E0000****and it says ::::::::

We received your application for permanent residence on November 30, 2010.
We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on March 1, 2011. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
==================================================================
Then later on i got one email which says
Your application # is E00000****. Contrary to the information in E-cas, no letter was sent to you. Your file is awaiting further assessment. Notification will be sent in due course. Thank you for your patience

after that i have not received any info. i have send all documents with my application.

I called cic and they told me that they doing background check. and it takes 30 weeks for them to come to conclusion.

these are details when i filed my case

Visa Office……: New Delhi
NOC Code……: 4152
App. Filed…….: 30 November 2010
Doc’s Request.: Sent with the initial application to CIO
IELTS Request: Sent with the initial application to CIO

Background checks happen at the visa office. The “letter” they said they sent you on 1st March 2011 is the email you got, which should have been the confirmation of positive eligibility from CIO. Once this has been done CIO will send your application to New Delhi visa office where they will perform background checks on all your documents which is probably where they are quoting 30 weeks (although 30 weeks sounds like a very worst case scenario, usually it takes about 2 months at visa office to hear something).

Given that it would take up to 1 month for CIO to send the application to India from when they sent the letter, it means your application has probably been at New Delhi for about 6 weeks now. So I would say you should hope to hear something from New Delhi within the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Thanks for your reply. i received email from cio on 26 May 2011 and e case status shows received by visa office on 26 June 2011, rest i have not received any confirmation email or letter from visa office. how much time does visa office take to complete verification part.

moreover i want to ask that school where i m working at this moment there is renovation going on so they have disconnected all lines and i have send experience letter and salary certificate on which principal of school has mentioned her cell number aswell. i have send her business card aswell.

Do i have to inform visa office about renovation thing or they will contact on mobile number of principal.

please let me know. and how much time visa office is taking for verification.

My husband applied pr for canada under fsw category from india in nov 2009 and 1st AOR received in march 2010. Now ecas shows in process from feb 2011 in this it shows “we reivewed your document and start processing your case from 2 feb 2011”. I want to know how long i have to wait for medicals or any other instructions. I also want to know my application is in positive line.

Hi. Since your application is pre-June-2010 the process is completely different to ours, with different timescales.

Also it rather depends on your visa office.

I would suggest you have a look at David Cohen’s forum here, and try to look at the pre-June-2010 threads which are on there. If you can find some applicants from the same visa office as you this will hopefully give you a better idea of timescales.

hi : i applied for canadian immigration in fsw on 5 march and my application was recevied by cio on 9 march 2011 . I got my first aor on 11 april and my application was received by london visa office on 9 may 2010. Now two weeks have been pased but i have not heared anything from visa office . Now my current status is recevied by visa office . can you tell me how long it take to change my status into in process and how long it may take for medical request

Our application was at visa office for 2 months before we went “In Process”. And about another 1 month then we got medical requests. So by those timescales you might expect “In Process” in early July and medical requests in early August.

However, especially at CHC London, things are a bit random. Some July 2010 applicants have yet to go In Process, and some January 2011 applicants are getting medical requests – so could be longer, could be shorter.

But I’d say medical requests by August would be a realistic timescale to guess at.

Hi, I’m in the same boat. Applied in August and received PER in Dec (2010). Still waiting to go In Process and receive Med Requests. So frustrating! Guess all we can do is hang on and wait. Hope we both get good news soon!

Hi,
Thanks for creating this nice blog.
I’m a post-26 June FSW applicant.
My application was received on October 29, 2010.
My PER issued on Feb 17, 2011.
My status is now “Received by visa office” (My visa office is Singapore).
After that, I did not received and hear anything. I am so tired of waiting. Now I’m little bit worried. Can you please tell me for how long I have to wait? When shall I get the visa in my passport (if nothing goes wrong)?

Waiting times vary from visa office to visa office, but a wait of several months is not uncommon. Some people are lucky and go into process fairly quickly, others have to wait many months, and there seems to be no pattern to it. I suggest you follow the post-June-26 thread on canadavisa.com forum and also the spreadsheet, which is linked in my blogroll, to get an overall picture of times.

Ok – firstly, what is your ECAS status? You need to be looking for your status changing from “Received by Visa Office” to “In Process”. Once it goes “In Process” you should normally expect to receive your medical requests within 4 to 6 weeks. However, there’s no telling when your application might go “In Process” since this does seem to depend on a number of factors, including your NOC, and a little luck!

May I suggest you check out our post-June-26 thread/spreadsheet linked from my blogroll so you can check other New Delhi timelines?

Category: 4152, Social Workers
Visa Office: New Delhi
Applied on: October 1, 2010
PER through email: January 21, 2011 (requesting to submit General IELTS instead of the Academic that I had submitted)
Email from CIO confirming receipt of Academic IELTS result and BF of file to VO: March 8, 2011
2nd AOR: April 7, 2011
Current E-CAS status: RBVO (since April 4, 2011)

In this case, is it possible that the E-CAS is not very accurate? I mean processing might have started but status has not been updated? Any such possibility?

hi
this is my current permanent resident status.
We received your application for permanent residence on June 23, 2010.

We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on October 20, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

Your application and supporting documents were received by the London England office. They are pending review.
My place of birth is u.a.e. but i am an indian citizen. while applying i was in dubai and my representative is in dubai. a few days ago i get a call from the representative saying that i have to transfer my application to new dehli cos currently i am in india and has been for the past 1 year. what should i do? should i go for a CAIPS file check? or should i wait for a answer from london? pls help
regards
joby

Hi. As far as I am aware you cannot transfer your file to another visa office yourself. Only CIC can do this if operationally it makes sense to them (for example recent transfer of Pakistan applications from Islamabad to London, and transfer of files from Damascus to Warsaw).

Since you are pre-June-26-2010 applicant your case will be processed on a lower priority and it could take up to 2 years to get your visa. If your occupation is on the current list of 29 in-demand occupations it may be faster to submit a new application. Otherwise there isn’t much to do but wait it out. Sounds like your file is not in process yet, so CAIPS notes won’t help much at this stage.

hi
thank you for your reply. i have contacted my representative and it seems it was the visa officer in london who said i have to transfer my file to new delhi. and from the information i got from the representative all i have to do is to withdraw my file from london and submit it to new delhi with a letter from the london office giving the reason for transfer, i was told i wont need a new file number and the process will continue from where it was stopped in london. is this senerio possible? if yes, will the newdelhi office take into consideration the time my application was in london and process it faster? what r my other options? will it help if i am having a job offer from canada? i fall under the 0631 category. everything is so messed up and i dont know what to do.
thanks
joby

Initial application to NS: Nov’09
Currently at Singapore VO- Ecas status: ‘in process’
If the file is ‘in process’ does it not mean that the background and documentation check is COMPLETE??
Is there ANY possiblity to be rejected at this stage?
As far as I know after ‘in process’ the only way rejection can happen are either due to security or medical problem.
Could anyone clarify and confirm.
Also, is it likely that I will get the visa within 2011?
I heard someone saying that 2008-june 2010 app will not get processed this year??? is that true?
PLEASE HELP
THANKS

Hi. “In Process” means your visa office eligibility review is complete. However, your application’s next stage is background document checks. This is where they check the authenticity of your documents, and also might perform employment verfication to contact your employers and prove that you have performed the duties you are claiming. All this is before medicals and background security checks.

So regrettably there is still a possibility your application could fail:
1) If they are unsatisfied with the authenticity of any of your documents
2) If they are unsatisifed with the employment verification if they contact your employer
3) If, after document checks, you are criminally or medically inadmissable to Canada as a result of the security checks and medicals

Most visa offices are prioritising post-June-2010 applications because they have far more applications than they have visa targets. There are still 144,000 Feb2008-June2010 applications not yet reached a decision, and by comparison there are only 14,000 post-June-2010 and there’ll be a maximum of 10,000 post-July-2011, so they are prioritising these newer applications since they better reflect Canada’s job market.

It may take 2 years or more to get your visa. However, if you get medical requests this year there is a chance you could get your visa this year.

SOME of the 2008-2010 applications will be processed this year, but the visa offices don’t have the resource or visa target authority to process all of them.

Hi Wayne,
Bit worried after reading your post above CIC has recieved my application on 08.07.11, however I have used my CC for payment. I am worried if as you say the security may bounce the transaction. Ive spoken to my credit card company to see if they can do anything and all they say is they will put a note on my account and its a 50/50 chance it will get blocked by security. If it does get blocked they say it will generate a security phonecall to me to authorise but will that slight delay mean a straight rejection ?

As I understand it, CIO will try twice to take payment before rejecting the application, so if there is a problem with the first payment, they will try once more.

The majority of credit card transactions will go through fine, so please don’t worry too much, but with most of the banks security software being automated, there is no way to GUARANTEE this, which is why I recommend banker’s draft.

Anyway, not much you can do now but cross your fingers and hope it goes through ok🙂

Hi Danny,
Take my experience, my application on July 2011 like your time. I also use Credit card for payment. It was charged on oct 04.
It was not blocked at all. CC is olaso mentioned in the cic.gc.ca that is one of the payment method.
and i am waiting from VO. Thank you, Wayne for your usefull sharing here.

Hi Wyne
We did our medicals in dec 2010. I was checking my status almost daily but never paid attention to Address column, looks like it was missing for a while though it is missing today and “in Process” is still there. How do u interpret this? what to expect next?
VO: London

If you did your medicals December 2010 then I assume you are a pre-June-2010 applicant? If so, your case will be on lower priority than the post-June-2010. Hopefully you will still get passport requests/visa this year, but they may issue these until your medicals start to draw towards expiry. I am just guessing though.

Regarding the address disappearance, almost everyone’s has disappeared (including ours) so I think it’s a system-wide thing.

I would highly appreciate if you please guide me about my case, and how my case is going and how long it will take. I applied through FSW (Job Offer) at CIO in October 2009. First AOR received through email on 12 January 2010. Original documents sent to Islamabad Visa Office within 120 days deadline i.e. on 26 March 2010, which were received by Islamabad visa office in first week of April 2010. However, FSW cases transferred from Islamabad to London on 1st April 2010. On 13 May 2010 a call was received at my employment place and the caller from Canadian High Commission verified my employment details (I don’t know what the office receptionist told him, whether verification was fine or there was some problem). Below is my ECAS status enteries:

We received your application for permanent residence on November 5, 2009.
We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on January 12, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
Your application and supporting documents were received by the London England office. They are pending review.
We transferred your application to the London England office on January 20, 2010. The London England office may contact you.
Your application was reviewed and we started processing on May 13, 2010.
We transferred your application to the London England office on January 27, 2011. The London England office may contact you.

Hi. Unfortunately I cannot really comment intelligently on how long it will take for your case to be processed. Since you are a pre-June-2010 applicant your case will be on a lower priority.

Can I please ask which NOC you applied under? Probably your case will get processed faster if you applied under a NOC which is still on the current 29 in-demand list, however, you could be looking up to 2 years for your application to be processed, so regrettably you might be in for a wait yet.

HI Wayne, thank you for your reply. Actually I applied through Job Offer (Arranged Employment) and my NOC category is 1211 ‘Office Supervisor’. Would my case still be affected by NOC priorities set by the Minister?

hellow,thank you for ur nice support.i applied on 22.05.11 .i got letter written mentioned that “Based on a review of the information you have provided, your application has received a positive final determination of eligibility for processing on the basis of work experience in an occupation specified in the Instructions issued by the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism and published in the Canada Gazette on June 26, 2010
it came on 15.07.11
1)what to do next.should i send any document/application form with documents again to VO singapore?or should i wait for their mail to do anything??
2)on that e-mail ,i home mailing adress came one number short(should be 551,but came as 51)What should i do now?

Well congratulations, you have your PER from CIO. There is no need for you to do anything. They will send your full application to your visa office (Singapore), and the visa office will ask if they need anything

Regarding the incorrect address, it is important that you contact the visa office since they can send medical requests by mail. You should be able to send an online query via the visa office’s web site.

Are you yet able to access ECAS? Once you can access ECAS with your file number, you can track the progress of your application. It will first show “CIO Eligibility Review Complete” followed by “Received by Visa Office” and from there you are waiting for it to be “In Process”.

The next communication you will get if everything is ok with your file and they don’t require further info, is medical requests from the visa office.

Pre-June 2010 applicants are on a lower priority than post-June-2010 – and it could take up to 2 years to process your application. This is what the visa offices are saying, since there are more applications than they actually have resource or permission to issue visas for.

Regrettably there is not much more you can do at the moment but wait, but you should prepare yourself that you might have to wait another year or two yet.

hello guys..
I am a nurse from the philippines and my ECAS status is as follows
In process
We received your application for permanent residence on November 1, 2010.

We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on February 21, 2011. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

Your application was reviewed and we started processing on March 24, 2011.

Medical results have been received.

Our passports were requested and was received by the manila office last june 27, 2011. Its been a month now and im checking almost everyday for any changes in my ecas status.
Do you have any idea or experience from other applicants as to how long before the visa will be issued?
Thank you so much & hoping for your response.
Godbless!

I think it varies from visa office to visa office. At CHC London it’s about 6 weeks from mailing passports to getting them back with visas in (although London also have an in-person service where you can drop them off and collect them 2 weeks later).

So I would say on average 6 to 8 weeks would be about right. Certainly nothing to worry about for a bit, I would give it until the end of August you should hopefully have them back by then.

Can you please give me an estimated time (in weeks or months) on how long will each step of the visa application process will take?.. From the time that my documents have been recived by the CIO to the releasing of the visa.. I applied for the FSW1 visa.. I just sent my application last week.. Please guide me on the process.. Thanks..

Hi, please take a look at my page at the top entitled “The Process” and also “Timelines” which should answer your questions. I have included our own timelins in there. The process from receipt of application to getting your eligibility review email from CIO is likely to be less than 2 months, rather than the 4 months we experienced.

Other than that, timelines tend to be very visa-office specific. Some applications are processed very quickly, others take a longer time.

Pre-June 2010 applicants are on a lower priority than post-June-2010 – and it could take up to 2 years to process our case .but how we can calculate these 2 years ?the dats when we field or application or from this current period.

Can anybody help me explaning me was happening with my process. I need the somebody else opinion reading this.

Status of your application Explanation
APPLICATION RECEIVED

Application Received by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)
We have received your application. After checking for completeness, a file has been created and the information from the application form was entered.
Centralized Intake Office Sydney (CIO-S) ELIGIBILITY REVIEW COMPLETE

Centralized Intake Office Sydney (CIO-S) – Eligibility Review Complete
The review at the CIO-Sydney has been completed. A letter with additional information has been mailed.
RECEIVED BY VISA OFFICE

Received by Visa Office
The application and documents have been received by the visa office.
VISA OFFICE ELIGIBILITY REVIEW COMPLETE

Visa Office – Eligibility Review Complete
The review of the application and supporting documents has been completed at the visa office. A letter with additional information has been mailed.
WITHDRAWN

Application Withdrawn
We withdrew your application and your file has been closed.
IN PROCESS

In Process
Based on review of your complete application package, it has been determined that your application is eligible for processing.
Processing has begun.
DECISION MADE
(A decision has been made at this point.)

Medical Results Received by CIC
We have received your medical results. We will contact you only if additional tests are needed.

Approval Status Determined
Your application will be either approved or rejected. We will inform you of the decision in writing.

Permanent Residence Status Determined
If your application is approved, we will send you your permanent resident documentation and a letter saying what we need to finalize your permanent residence.
COMPLETE
(This is the last step in the processing of your application.)

Applicant Arrives in Canada and is Granted Permanent Residence
You will need to meet with an Immigration Officer who will verify your documents and grant you permanent residence if all is in order.

i sent my application and received by the cio on 25 feb 2011
they encashed my cc on 2 march 2011
up to first of july 2011 i got neither e mail nor mail from cio about my status
i became worry and according to the advice of some friends on forum i sent to them enquiry
the cio replied by giving me application number E0000 then 5 numbers
and stated that my application is awaiting review by an officer
i used this application number as file number on cio electronic site to check my status unhopfully
the surprise that i found the following
we received your application on 25 feb
we reviewed your application and sent you a letter on 31 march plz consider delay in mail delivery before contacting us ( my status till now eligability review complete)

i sent to cio another e mail asked how come to write that eligability review complete and u sent me a letter and i got nothing by mail or e mail till now
they replied as follow
No letter has been sent. Notification will be sent upon completion of the assessment of the file. It will be sent via the e-mail address on your application.

The online system (E-CAS) is a computer system that automatically updates during key periods throughout the creation and assessment of your file. However, at times the information that is transferred to the E-CAS system is erroneous. This issue has been brought to the attention of the appropriate party for resolution.

Thank you for your patience.
really i dont know what is happening ?
is the number they sent to me staring with E is my file number and if it is my file number does that mean that i got positive eligability review or i have to wait to have positive or negative decision

some people said that the next step will be received by visa office (my visa office is cairo ,egypt)

It is sometimes a day or two before I have time to check and reply on my blog, so please exercise a little patience.
Please remember I am an applicant too and am busy preparing for our landing trip :)!

Anyway sounds to me like 31st March was when they completed your CIO eligibility review and sent you an email. Have you thoroughly checked your junk folders to ensure it has not inadvertantly been placed there?

If you really don’t have anything then you need to contact CIO again – explain that ECAs says they sent you correspondence but you have not received it, can they please confirm the nature of the correspondence?

Hi,
I have applied under AINP in Colombo Sri Lanka. In 3 months I have received the AOR and E-Cas changed to in Process on 7 July. Surprisingly on 11 July they have printed the documnets for Medical request and RPRF. What does this mean to you? Can they finalize a file for PR this fast?? Current processing time shows 25 months for the category I have applied. Confused.. where would my application process stand right now?

Hi – please note I know very little about AINP, since my only experience really is with Federal Skilled Worker.

Timelines will be completely different, if you have got medical request so quickly then that’s great news!🙂 Impossible to give you timelines for visa office since each visa office differs and as I mentioned you are taking a different route. But I would imagine you are probably looking 2 to 3 months from completing medicals to getting passport requests.

I am claiming points for my dependant’s engineering degree( Applying for FSW1). In that case, does she also have to produce her transcript in a university sealed envelope or her degree certificate itself will suffice? Sorry to bother as you must be busy preparing for your landing. Many thanks.

Full University transcripts for both PA and spouse are required, in University sealed envelopes.

I have heard some people get away with notarized photocopies, but even that I wouldn’t risk since you don’t want to be without the points, so my strongest advice is to make sure that they are original transcripts in sealed envelopes with University stamps on.

Thanks a lot and that’s very quick. Your reply was loud and clear and you are right that we can’t afford to take any chances with that. By the way, what’s your thoughts on using lawyer or getting some professional help verifying the application before submission? Would you recommend one if you may please? By the way, I am not at all exaggerating or something in saying that you really are doing a wonderful job hats off to you mate!

No worries. Regarding a lawyer – my best advice is to not bother unless you have a particularly complex case. I have heard many horror stories of a lawyers/consultants making mistakes or missing things which have led to applications failing.

Honestly you are much better double-checking all the details yourself, and then any questions try to clear up from immigration forums and blogs such as this etc. We have our visas and we never paid a penny to any lawyers, so we are living proof that you can it all yourself. Also the forms and guidelines from CIC are gradually becoming more user-friendly and clearer.

In my view for the majority of cases, immigration lawyers will just introduce unnecessary delay and expense. Most notably, expense!🙂

Although sometimes I may be able to reply quicker than others – with our impending move it may sometimes be up to a day or two before I can get back to you but I will endeavour to reply as quickly as possible.

hI
I applied under FSW1 Category and they received in october 26th 2010, in which they responded in feb 2011 saying i should do IELTS general and not Acadmemic. Same done, and they responded with a mail on april 26th to mention my file number and the positive elligibilty. Also mentioned was the file is to be transferred to Visa office which is pretoria in this case. Its been 3 months since and no response from visa office. the ecas mentiones file received by the visa office and no other information, apart from what i have said. is this okay? could it take longer?

Some people can take several months at visa office stuck on “Received by visa office” before being “In Process”. Regrettably there isn’t much to do but wait it out. For example, I know some July and August 2010 here at London office who have only just gone In Process.

Certainly doesn’t sound like there is anything to worry about at the moment. I hope you hear something soon.

I got the verfication call on telephone in last week of July 2011 and from 2 august 2011 onwards the name of the applicant is shown in the ecase status but address not shown what does it means when we expect the medicals? I am pre june Nov 2009. Please tell me.

Pre-June-2010 applicants are on a lower priority so it is very difficult to predict when you might expect medicals. If they have recently performed employment verification it means they are actively processing your file, so I would hope you would hear something within the next month or two – but nothing much you can do now but wait.

Hi.. I’ve applied for quebec skills worker and after getting my CSQ I sent my application to buffalo for the federal part on september 2010. on March 2011 I receive my AOR and they asked me to do my madical check. I did all of that in march 2011. on august 2, 2011 I receive a letter from buffalo saying that the Initial assessment done and that there are about to finilize my files without asking me interview and any documents ( I paid my RPFR at the beginning of my application).
I want to know what does the Initial Assessment mean? Do you think that they already done with my Background checking?
Thanks

Processing can vary from applicant to applicant depending on visa office workloads and the complexity of your individual case – but an average from London to get MR is probably about 1 month from going In Process, unless they require further documentation.

congrats for visa !!! I have few questions hope you can help me with them.. My file is RBVO from 26 june 2011 so thats perfectly okie with me coz nothing can be done all i we can do is wait.. my questions are:

1) school where i m working there telephone number and website is not working because of construction going on in admin block which would take somewhere around 6- 7 months and they will be changing all telephone numbers so in case of my verification cant be done. school website email is not working. but principal of that school has mentioned her mobile number in my experience letter and salary certificate as well which would be working ofcourse. so they can contact on her cell phone.

In mean time principal has put a notice on noticeboard about this and they have given three mobile numbers and two email address on plain sheet with principal signature and stamp on it.

Do you think i should send a photocopy of that notice to visa office and let them know about this situation along with covering letter.

2) I want to resign from that school and shift to different city where my husband is staying.i have been working in that school from 2004 – till date.
i hope if i resign that wont affect my application.

I applied at CIO on jan 23 2011. File was transferred to new Delhi in June 2010. Officials came to my work place to verify my employment. I have received a letter on August 24 asking me to attend an interview and bring passports and other documents in originals. What does this indicates.

hi Wayne..Sorry took long to respond. My Ecas is still in ” Received by visa office status” will wait, though this is now the 4 th month no second letter. Thanks for your advise and the hope you give to all of us.

hi all,
i am from Vietnam. For my case, after 7 weeks from the day CIC recieved my document, i get an positive notification from them that my package is complete checked and send to Visa office. So i think that now CIC officer works faster than before .Good news for all of us, right?

My application was received by CIO on July 03, 2011
My CC was charged on 16 July 2011
Final determination of Eligibility received by email on 03 Aug 2011
Today I checked the status and it is showing RBVO (London CHC)

Hi. Congratulations on successfully make it through the CIO completeness check and eligibility review stages.

Next your application will undergo a 2nd eligibility review at CHC London to ensure that CIO did not make any mistakes, and then your file will go in process where CHC will review your supporting documentation and run any background checks they deem necessary to review the authenticity of the documents.

The next step is to wait until your file goes “In Process” on ECAS. Once that happens, hopefully you should expect medical requests within a month or so if your supporting documentation is all in order. However, this can vary quite a lot from applicant to applicant.

Hi Wayne! I had a small query.
I’ve applied for PR Visa through the FSW category – 1122.
Now, the thing is, my application was delivered at CIO Sydney on 22-Aug-2011 whilst the CIC website got updated on the same day stating that this particular category has reached its cap and no more applications will be considered.
I was wondering if my application will go through or they would not even consider it? What do you think are the chances my application will be considered?
Secondly, assuming they’re considering it, could you please provide approximate timelines for the initial stages of completeness check, payment charged and eligibility review?
Being optimistic / pessimistic, by when (what date) do you think I should first hear from them? Either by regular post or email?

I had another question about medicals. On my application, I am the only person intending to move to Canada.
My dependents i.e. my parents will not be moving with me.
So, is it only me who has to get the medicals done or do my parents also have to get medicals done?

If this is true than an application receieved on 22nd August would have no chance to make it within the cap. Please bare in mind that an application has to be opened and its completeness check finished before it can be counted within the cap, and it seems that CIO receive a lot more than 500 applications during July alone judging but people’s responses in the above 2 threads.

Why would your parents de dependent of you? As far as I am aware all dependents need to have medicals even if they are not accompanying you to Canada, but I don’t think parents count as your dependents, so if you are going alone and have no spouse or dependent children, then you will only have to complete the medicals yourself.

But because of the capping situation you should prepare yourself for the fact that very probably your application will be rejected because the cap was filled by early July applicants. So you can either wait until nex t year or you can be pro-active and try to secure a job offer and apply through FSW2 or look at Provincial Nomination.

Thanks a lot, buddy!
I kinda knew that was coming. Can never lose hope though.
Haven’t heard a word from the CIO yet, so I guess there’s nothing wrong with hoping.

And, ah, yes! About my parents being dependent. That’s coz my dad’s retired and my mom’s a housewife.
So, technically, they’re dependent on me, since I’m the only working person in the family.
Any which ways, I think I’m really long off from having the medicals.

Hi. I applied through representative in April 2011 from Dubai as u was living there . CIC sent us a mail in June 2011 whereby they need updated Proof of funds , I sent it to them on June 15th 2011 and since I changed my residence from Dubai to Singapore I did change of visa office request . We r in September and still I haven’t got my AOR yet . I don’t have yet a file number . Is this normal and wa do you Advise

I got my PER on October 17th , Iam applying under. FSW 1 NOc 633 restaurant manager.
I was living in dubai and my representative in Dubai , I have moved to singapore and informed cic before I got my PER . We asked Cic to use Singapore as VO as am living there for past 8 months.
My Ecas was showing after h recieved my PER as : appellation received on July 17th 2011.
Today my Ecas is showing : In process .

Wat does in process mean??
I didn’t get any note that my file has been recieved by VO .
Is this a good sign my application is quickly under process ?
Thanks

Hi. PCCs are valid for 12 months and must not have expired by the time the visa officer makes the final decision on your application.

If the visa officer deems it likely that the PCC will expire before they make the decision, they will request new PCCs. Our PCC had 3 months of validity left when we got medical requests and they still asked for new PCCs. We actually got decision made about 2 weeks before our original PCC expired but I guess they figured it would be a close call, hence requesting new PCCs.

I am an Orthodontists (Dentist) from Syria but I live and work in Saudi Arabia.

I applied for Immigration to Canada Under Federal Skilled Worker in Post June 2010 period and I received an email from CIC Nova Scotia stating that I had
Received Positive Eligibility Review (PER) and That They are going to transfer my file to London Visa office and this was on 15 March 2011 ..

I didn’t Receive Anything from CIC or Visa Office from that time and Whenever I Check my Ecase It Says There Are No Information for this logging and that the visa office might have received my application but didn’t start processing it.

Please help me in this issue coz i’m very worried , Is it Normal or there is something wrong .

No need to worry at this stage. I know some July 2010 applicants who are still waiting to go into process. London visa office can be quite slow so it is just a patience game waiting for your file to go In Process.

Nothing you can really do but wait at this stage. If you got your PER 15 March it will probably be some time in April when London got your file. Need to allow at least 6 months at visa office before querying it with CHC London so if you have heard nothing by the end of October I would send them a case-specific query asking them about your case, although probably it will be greeted with a “your file is awaiting review, quit bugging us!” style of reply.

So nice to hear of your landing experience. Please do keep updating. We depend on you for information and guidance:-)

Right now I am faced with a situation. While fillinf up the “Additional Family Information” form, my husband has written himself as the applicant and me as his spouse, then mother, father, brother, sister etc. But when I am fillinf up the same, what would I have to write on the applicant and spouse bracket? I mean should I write me as the applicant for this form? Otheriwse how will the CIC figure who are my brothers and sisters and who are his?

Hi – yes it’s quite confusing isn’t it? But basically the spouse becomes the PA on their additional family information form, just for purposes of this form. Otherwise you would be handing in 2 identical forms!

u bust with many paper work but , u given ans. many people, again congrates wayne.

ok , My file submit to FSW , NOC CODE -8222, SUPERVIOSR OIL GAS , N/S recivied my file on date 18th july 2011,
still not any feedback, i send email to cic inatke , cic reply me not up dated or not recivie
i am call to CIC help line , he says CIC intake latset on up dated 6th july application, wait for more one month,
how know our status file , some of find tracker of apllication , how to adds our name taraker list

dear wayne
i have been following ur pages for a couple of days now. the information provided here has been very useful. i have filed my application on the 20th of august 2011. i have a query n wud appreciate if you can answer it for me.

as proof of relationship i submitted the copies of marriage certificate of my mother and my maternal uncle.
i submitted the high school certificate for both persons which shows the name of their father.
i submitted the university degree for both persons which again shows the name of their father.
i submitted the copy of credit card invoice n one utility bill of my uncle which shows his name n address.
my question is if these documents are enuff or birth certificates are mandatory?

HI all, I have applied for FSW in June 2011, however I received a mail from CIC that my application is unsuccessful. There was an error in filling the application and because of that my points came to only 63. They said they have sent me a letter. Its been 1 month and I did not receive any letter from them. I want to apply again and my IELTS original is with CIC, they said I can submit xerox of the IELTS provided if I can attach the rejection letter from CIC.

Now my question is how long will it take for me to recevice the rejection letter from CIC. I am from Chennai. India. Please help me in knowing this.

Hi – if they are not returning your full documents (and presumably you failed at eligibility review, and not completeness check) then they should respond fairly quickly. I have heard full applicatoins can take up to 3 months.

Canada post is slow, and also documents can be delayed at customs.

Did they not send you an email? Is it not possible to include that email along with the Xerox of your IELTS?

Also under which NOC are you applying? Anything but 1122 and 3152 and you should have plenty of time to get an application in.
Wayne.

Hi Wayne, I failed at eligibility review. In the PR guide it says that I need to attach a letter from CIC which stats that my Original Docs are withheld by them. The email that I received does not state anything about documents.

Any Idea on how many days it would take for a letter (not whole set) to reach India. Even Indian post is very very slow.

Your information are very useful in my preparation process. I am planning to submit the PR application by early next month under FSW category. I would like to check with you is that all of my work experience with 3 employers ( 1.5 year , 2 years and 1 year respectively)falls under same NOC.
What do you think the officer will assess my work experience by taking the longest service 2 years OR overall 4.5 years?
Thanks in advance.

As far as I am aware they will assess against the order you specify in Schedule 3. If they are satisfied that you meet the criteria having only looked at the first work experience, then they need not look at the others.

Sometimes it may be necessary for them to go through more than one before deciding – if, for example, you have performed some of the duties with one employer, and some with another, then this all counts as long as each separate employment was full time for at least 12 months.

So basically it just speeds things up if you put down first the work experience you feel will most likely convince CIC that you are eligible, but they will take all of them into consideration if they need to.

I submitted my application for CIO-Sydney on 3rd March 2010 (1st AOR Date) along with fees. They asked for all documents, submitted in June 2010………then got 2nd AOR from CIC-London on 10th Aug 2010……after that all is quite…..online status reads “Received by visa office”.

Hi. As a pre-June 2010 applicant your case will be on a lower priority than those after June 2010. Some visa offices have quoted 2 years (so 2013) before they can be processed. Not everyone will have to wait that long, but certainly for you it could stretch at least into next year.

Regrettably there is nothing you can do at the moment but wait it out.

Hi Wayne,
Congratulations!!!! I find your column very informative especially to people who have pending application. Your experiences will serve as our guide. I passed my application to CIC last July 4, 2011 and received by them on July 6, 2011. I passed it thru a representative in Canada. My application includes all the required documents, and by the way I have AEO approved by HRDC. Until now I did not receive any email or feedback from CIC..how many months will an applicant with AEO received an Eligibility review? Thank you Wayne and God bless you!

Hi there. Well prior to 1st July 2011 CIO had got eligibility review confirmation down to around 5 weeks from application received date. However in early July they had a massive influx of new applications, which has taken its toll on the timescales – but early July applicants have started to get eligibility review emails in the past week or two. So I think you should hear something very soon (next week or 2 weeks).

I suggest you following the post-July-2011 thread on the canadavisa.com forum for up to date information on timelines.

Hi,
I applied on 27th Sept 2010 under biologists and related scientists. Received first AOR in Jan 2011 and then file transferred to visa office new delhi. Medical request recieved june 2011, submitted 12 july 2011 along with passports. Today, even after more than 2 months passports are still not back. I applied from USA and am back only for this purpose (because I wrote v/o as New Delhi in my application). Do you have any idea how long it might take. The Ecas status is ‘in process’ . Does it change before I will get the passport back.
Thanks

New Delhi visa offices works differently to most other visa offices in that it asks for passports at the same time as medicals, whereas most other visa offices will ask for the passports only when they are ready to issue the visa.

This shaves a few weeks off the process, but has the negative consequence that applicants are without their passports for several months.

I think most of the people on canadavisa.com are talking around 3 months from sending passports to getting the visa – but this of course will vary from applicant to applicant.

After only 2 months I don’t think there is cause for concern yet, so hopefully you will get them back within the next month or so.

Hi. I filed my FSW application under NOC 3152 last September 8, but received by NS Canada on September 15, 2011 wherein the last application received update as of September 13, 2011 is 473. I am just wondering if my application was possibly included in the quota. What correspondence do I expect from the Nova Scotia by this time? How will I know if my application was included prior to the cap reached? Thank you.

Hi. That is certainly cutting it fine, and there will be some lag between the cap filling and this being advertised on the CIC website. For example the 1122 cap was filled around 22nd August, but some people have been told the last applications to make it inside the cap were received only on 8th July.

So although there’s hope, I should prepare yourself for at least the possibility that your application has been rejected.

Anyway, the 2 possibilities now
1) If your application gets through the completeness check and makes it within the cap, your payment will be cashed and your application forwarded to a program officer for an eligibility review

2) If your application does not make it within the cap, the entire application will be returned to you by standard post with a letter explaining it has not made it within the cap. However, this can take a few months since Canada post is slow and documents can be delayed at customs.

Hi. I sympathise with your frustration. Regrettably pre-June-2010 applicants are on a lower priority at most visa offices and it could take up to 2 years for the applications to be processed. It could be quicker but there’s no real way of knowing, so it just means continuing patience.

i submitted my documents on 20th august 2011. i completed all the forms but in Background Information form for the spouse i forgot to write To Date in the last working experience column. do u think tht my application will be deemed incomplete because of this oversight. the forms and documents are complete in every other respect. i will really appreciate if you can tell me wht might happen.

hi wayne. ur website is so helpful. i got PER on 23 augst 2011. on 17 september i saw my ecase showing in process. they have also mentioned that ur processing has started on 23august. how it is possible on the same date.well its confirmed by other fello members that my case is in process.so kindly tell me the approximate time fram to get medicals. thanks God bless u.

Hi – probably takes up to 1 month to get to the visa office, then a month or two to actually go in process at the visa office (sometimes files are added as “IN PROCESS” when they first go into ECAS, but then they are correctly changed to say “Received by visa office).

Once in process it depends on the background checks but around 1 month until medicals – so if your application goes smoothly I would say 4 months from the date you got your per, which would be towards the end of December. Could be a bit quicker, could take a bit longer – since background document check timescales can vary greatly it is not possible to give an accurate prediction.

hi..
i filed my application in april 2011 and my status shows in process…my address had disappeared when it turned to “in process” on 11 sept but when i checked yesterday it had reappeared..does that means that my process is complete?? plus i didnt receive any employment check calls or anything..!! when should i expect my medicals??

Appearance and disappearance of address can signify movement on your file, but can also just be a system-wide updated, so I would not read too much into it.]

As an April 2011 there are many applicants who applied much earlier than you who are still yet to hear anything, so I would politely recommend some patience🙂 Medicals are impossible to predict exactly because of the varying length of time the background document checks take from applicant to applicant.

also i want to know if my application is being processed with the normal processing speed..my timeline is as follows:
filed app on 23april
acknowledgment letter was received on 13 june
RbVO on 9 july
In process on 10 sep
and my visa office is london.. plz reply soon..
regards

Kindly let know When the Canadian Immigration Office receives our applications, do they inform or acknowledge the client by any e-mail or post???Is there anyway by which I can check my status of application process???

The only way to know that CIO have received your application is once they perform the completeness check, they will then take payment (either charging the credit card, or cashing the banker’s draft). So just look out for the card being charged, or if you paid by draft you’ll have to keep checking with the bank if it’s been cashed or not.

The first actual communication you’ll get from CIO is an email after they have completed the eligibility review, which happens after the completeness check, and that’s probably around 2 months from when they get the application.

Easiest way to be sure you are within the cap is has your credit card been charged/bank draft cashed? If so, then the completeness check has been completed on your application and you are safely within the cap. I don’t think you are safely through the cap until the payment has been cashed.

“Waiting for initial review” is ambigious since it could mean the completeness check or the eligibility review.

Hi – apologies for my long delay in replying, I am very busy and there always seems to be dozens of PMs every time I log in nowadays!🙂

Pre-June 2010 applicants are on a low priority so it is really impossible to predict. Some people have been told it could take up to 2 years.
I am sorry I don’t have anything more accurate to be able to give you. Once you go “In Process” on ECAS things should move faster.

Hi, Basically the RBVO has been showing up since ages now on my CIC Application Status page for FSW category (IT Manager)

” We received your application for permanent residence on June 7, 2010.

We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on October 7, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

Your application and supporting documents were received by the Singapore office. They are pending review. ”

I have received the 1st email communication from FSW-Centralized_Intake-Office@cic.gc.ca and another post in May 2011, suggesting that Application which was submitted in Centralized INtake Office has now (after CIO recommendation) to Immigration Section, HIgh Commission Of Canada (Singapore) for further assessment. Moreover my Change of Address was readily accepted(within 2 weeks) and shows under Application Status webpage.

Just would like to be aware that whether the Visa application is under normal timelines of processing and when can i expect a reply. Also does a job offer from potential employer of Canadian company be able to expedite the whole PR application to fast track approval etc.

My experience with other FSW2 applicants I know is that it can take even longer with a job offer. Some friends who live next door to me in Canada are applying under FSW2. They applied 1 week after us, we had our visa in July, they don’t even have medical requests yet.
Basically it can take longer I think because CIC are being very vigilant in checking the authenticity of the job offer/LMO etc.

Hi Wayne,
My son’s aplication was moving along well and is nearing 9 months (out of the 11 for spousal sponsorship)
E-cas stated “in process” all along until October 3, 2011 when that entire line has disappeared. It only shows decision made from Mississauga – nothing else! We had received the AOR in May 2011, but now nothing (not even application received by Buffalo)
Can you please shed some light on why this has happened, and what could be next?
Thank you kindly!
Dad

Hi, Basically the RBVO has been showing up since ages now on my CIC Application Status page for FSW category (IT Manager)

” We received your application for permanent residence on June 7, 2010.

We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on October 7, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

Your application and supporting documents were received by the Singapore office. They are pending review. ”

I have received the 1st email communication from FSW-Centralized_Intake-Office@cic.gc.ca and another post in May 2011, suggesting that Application which was submitted in Centralized INtake Office has now (after CIO recommendation) to Immigration Section, HIgh Commission Of Canada (Singapore) for further assessment. Moreover my Change of Address was readily accepted(within 2 weeks) and shows under Application Status webpage.

Just would like to be aware that whether the Visa application is under normal timelines of processing and when can i expect a reply. Also does a job offer from potential employer of Canadian company be able to expedite the whole PR application to fast track approval etc.

For pre-June-26-2010 applications the waiting time is very slow. Some people have been told that they may have to wait up to 2 years to be processed, because all post-June-2010 and post-June-2011 are getting priority.

i have submitted my full application for perminent resident in canade at 12 october 2010 i got the reply to wait almost 8 months at 23 feb 2011 now 8 months are also passed i have not got reply what should i do now, how long will it take to get a medical call

Regrettably some 2010 applicants are still waiting. My neighbours here in Canada applied early September 2010 and have still not got their medical requests yet.

All you can really do is contact the visa office occasionally but most likely they will just say “we’re reviewing your case, quit bugging us”. Which visa office are you? Some are faster than others. Buffalo, London and Accra are particularly slow.

I think patience is your best friend at the moment! Hope you hear something soon.
Wayne.

All the information provided in this blog is very helpful. Thanks a lot. Here’s my scenario. I have applied for the PR (new delhi office)with an arranged employment offer. I have received the letter for medicals, and the same letter asks for the new PCC, and passports. The problem that I am facing is that, I have received the letter on 12th october 2011, The mail was originally sent from new delhi office was 19 september 2011. The letter says that we have to submit all the documents by 03 nov 2011 otherwise it could lead to refusal of the application. The new PCC takes about 4-6 weeks and also for applying for PCC we need to submit the passport. I did my medicals and applied for PCC (submitted my passport) on 13 oct 2011. Considering the duration to get the PCC it wont be possible to submit it on time and also I dont have the passport with me. Can you please advice on what to do on this scenario. Do you advice me to send a letter before 03 nov 2011 explaining the scenario?…..Please advice

You must contact them before 3 Nov 2011 (this is imperative). Send everything you can, and explain the delays for the remainder. Why do you not have your passport with you? Where is it?

Basically on or shortly after 3 Nov 2011 someone at visa office will pull out your file and when they see you haven’t supplied the information they could reject your case if they have no explaination. If you explain that it took over a month to get the letter to you, and give them the timeframe it will take to get the PCC etc hopefully they will extend the time.

If your eligibility review is unsuccessful you will receive an email stating the reasons and your entire application will be returned to you. Since CIO have already taken payment by this point they will initiate a refund of your fees, which will likely take several months to get to you. Please note this is the last point at which you will receive a refund if your application is unsuccessful.

At this stage your ECAS status should now read “CIO eligibility review complete”.

UPDATE 18-Apr-2011: Please note that several people have been told that you do not get your application back AT ALL if your application is failed at the eligibility review stage, all you will receive is a refund for your processing fee.
THIS IS MY CASE HISTORY..DINT RECEIVE ANY DOCUMENT BACK..OR ANY REFUSAL LETTER IN RETURN…JUST AN EMAIL THAT U R NOT ELIGIBAL……AND U DID NOT SATISFY US…THAT U R AN ARCHITECT.WHT TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DO?

If you received a negative eligibility review email (otherwise known as NER) then you have 2 choices. Well 3 choices. It sounds like you were rejected because the visa officer was not convinced that you have at least 1 year’s continuous full-time employment in one of the 29 NOCs, in this case architecture.

1) Appeal immediately and attempt to prove that the documentation you provided at the time of your application give sufficient evidence that you are eligible. To have done this you must have submitted a work reference from your employer or former employer stating your length of service, the hours you performed, your salary and most importantly the duties you performed. If you did all this then check the “How to deal with an unfair NER” post here https://get2canada.wordpress.com/how-to-deal-with-unfair-ner/, and fax CIO immediately explaining exactly HOW your documentation supports your eligibility. Line by line if you have to.

2) Make another application, this time ensuring that the work reference evidence is sufficient.

3) Give up or consider another route such as provincial nomination or Federal Skilled Worker Category 2, with a job offer.

My Sanjay Patel
I get nomination from Alberta (AINP) , I send all documents to dehli canada consulate on 3rd October 2011, How to know my application is recevied by canada consulate ? If recevie , they send any letter to me ? How long time for my catagory (PNP) my NOC code is 2253 (MECHANICAL DRAFTSMAN)
Please let me know ASAP

Hi sorry I can’t comment since I have no experience with provincial nomination, only Federal Skilled Worker. I suggest you make a post on the canadavisa.com forum and see if some of the PNP applicants on there can share their experiences and give you some accurate timescales.
Wayne.

hi wayne
this is muhammad rizwan
i want to apply for skilled class immigrant to canada but confused about points i will acquire for job experience.
i will launch my application under 0631 resturant manager my expereice are as under
1 year internet cafe manager pakistan (related to 0631)
2 years wireless engineer saudi arabia
2 years file maanager pakistan
i am confused as these three categories are in NOC list with different fields in management and professinal category.
but how many points i will get with this expereince out of 67
kindly reply thank you very much

1) You need at least one year’s continuous full time experience in one of the 29 in-demand NOCs, of which 0631 is one.
2) Your work experience, if it is full time and in ANY Skill Type 0, A or B profession, can score up to 21 points (4 years) so as long as you can provide full evidence including duties you should get maximum points for this.

We applied for FSW(arranged employment-currently on a work permit in Canada)
09/08/2010 – Applied via Sydney CIO
10/18/2011- In process (Pretoria, SA)
We had attached our Police Cerance Certificate with our Application, the PCC was dated June 2010, at the time when our application was received (09/08/2010) it was still valid (within 6 months), do think they will request another PCC, we have not left Canada (not travelled anywhere out of Canada) since we arrived here in Feb2009.
Please advise, thank you

Dude please be patient🙂 There are people from July/Aug/Sep 2010 from London who have not had their medicals yet. It is something of a lottery and very difficult to predict.

However, I would think most people should hope to get medicals without a month or so of going In Process if there are no delays with their file, but this all depends on how long the background document checks take.

Some people have been in process for many months (7,8,9 months) – others can take only a few weeks. It depends entirely on the complexity of your case, the speed of the visa officer, even some of the third party companies they must use to help with the background checks.

Sorry but it is not really possible to second guess. I am not a fortune teller🙂 Please just be patient.

I have applied in March 2011 in the FSW1 Category. On 15 August my Ecas showed that my application has entered to “IN PROCESS” Stage.
Yesterday I sent an email to CHC London asking for the update. The next day I receievied an email from CHC saying,
“Background checks are outstanding at present and these may take several months to complete”
I am worried perhaps I have annoyed CHC by sending premature email. However I am also thankful to them for their quick response.
Should the word “outsanding” be taken that my background checks are not started yet or they are in progress. I want your expert comments Sir.
Thanks
Mr Khan

I have send my medicals & passports in sept. 2011 my consultant get the address verification in starting of october but we cannot receive any communication or our passports from new delhi office i want to know how much time they will take more.

I had applied for Skill worker class from USA. It’s been more than a one year the online status checking service telling me my application is in process. However, it just show , CIO transfer application to buffalo for further processing on may 2010. there is no updates after that. Is there any way I can know whats going on there? I send some emails to buffalo office about my education updates and ask for whether they already send me medical test information.I am worring that may be It lost as I changed my mailing address couple of time. But no response at all.

I am not a doctor so regrettably I really have no idea. Is the family member accompanying you to Canada? The doctors will make no pass or fail decision during your medical, but will simply pass on a report to CIC. It will be the medical services division of your visa office who will make the decision as to your medical admissability to Canada.

But generally they are only concerned with 3 things
1) That no-one in your application has any condition which would post an excessive strain on the Canada healthcare system
2) That no-one in your application has a disease which poses a threat to public health (such as HIV or Syphilis)
3) That no-one in your application has a condition which poses a threat to public safety (such as alcohol or drug problems)

The vast majority of people pass their medicals. Now as I said I am no doctor. A brief search shows that jaundice can be related to liver disease/hepatitis. I know if you have piercings they will check for hepatitis during the blood tests.

I think the best course of action is to be completely open and honest – answer all the doctor’s questions truthfully.

I have a question again, I have asked you some doubts a couple of weeks ago and you have helped us through your replies. I received my PER on September 22, 2011 and ECAS was available in CIC website which was APPLICATION RECEIVED then after few days ECAS changed to CENTRALIZED INTAKE OFFICE ELIBILITY REVIEW COMPLETE and then after 1 week it immediately changed to IN PROCESS without having passed to RECEIVED BY VISA OFFICE and VISA ELIBILITY REVIEW COMPLETE. Do you know someone in post June 2010 applicants and in London Visa office have the same situiation as mine. I am worried. BTW, I applied under FSW Category 2 with AEO. Please share your ideas and opinion to us. Thank you very much and God bless!

Please do not make the same post twice. I will respond but I have many posts to get through so sometimes it can take several days, or occasionally weeks, before I can respond to all of them.

It is common for a case to be wrongly labelled “In Process” when it is first added to ECAS. It is likely it will change to RBVO or ER Complete soon. If you are in process without the third line “We reviewed your application and started process in XYZ” then it is not truly in process.

Have a question me & my wife have applied canadian pr the new delhi high commission has taken are passport in august 2010 after an interview with the medical and RPRF but they do not respond to any inquiry by us please advice what can be done about it has been one year and 2 months till date please help.

Do you mean August 2010 or August 2011? If August 2011 then it takes around 3 months after getting passports from New Delhi to getting the visa.

If you actually mean August 2010 this means they have had your passports for over a year ??? If so you really need to get hold of them. Send on online query and mark it as urgent if they will not respond by phone.

Hi,
Today I called CIC customer care no. and informed my DOB and full name. After verify they informed me that our file has not yet opened. what does this mean? I have applied under NOC 1122 and my application was received on 8th of August 2011, signed by Mike. Does it mean that they are returning our application? Seniors please help.

I had applied for PR to Canada. Due to the reason of not providing sufficient evidence from employer my case was rejected. I have received returned cheque for 550 Canadian dollars but have not received my original documents back. I am not sure what to do next as I have arranged missing requirement i.e evidence from employer and want to re-apply to Canada but do not have document with me. Can you help how can I get through and what to do next if i need to reapply

If your application failed at the eligibility review stage or beyond (which is what happened) then you do not get your documents back. It sucks but that’s CIO policy. Alas if you did not include sufficient evidence with your original application then CIO will not consider any new evidence, therefore your only choice now is to re-apply.

If you submit another application you may include a photocopy of your IELTS results and refer to the original that CIO have, but you will still need to re-acquire all your work experience documents etc.

Hi Wayne,
Nice to see ur prompt reply to all candidates, pls do reply me too. Unfortunately i have applied my application on May 5th, 2010, and just one month before this new rule, but i have hired an agency – WWICS, and later came to know that its useless but too late coz i have paid them their fees completely, all i have now is wait and see what god has kept for me. Iam a nurse working in Qatar but origin from India and my Husband is from pakistan and this is the main reason for me for this immigration process. my agnecy have applied to Nova scotia under skilled worker. Now my question is – in my online it shows” in process”, Sydney has completed their check and sent to London for background check and london office mailed my agency and they forwarded the mail – they gave a new file no . diffirent from the before one and said it will take 6-8 months and if u will not hear anything from us by then u can mail us. so it was sent in March-2011 so now its 7 months. keeping my fingers crossed hope its all well and i get a positive result. Pls wayne can you explain if this back ground check is done only for the PA or even the spouse and is there any case it will be rejected because he is pakistani……, But he is in Qatar working for last 10 years. i have 2 small boys – 3 yrs and 16 months. i just want to change their passports. Pls do reply me….. if u can mail me at zeeginu@yahoo.co.in

Hi – since you are pre-June-2010 applicant you will be processed on a lower priority than those who applied after June 2010.

Some people have been told by the visa offices it could take up to 2 years from now to finalise their applications.

Nobody will be rejected based on their nationality alone, so the fact that your spouse is Pakistani should have no relevance.

Background checks are done on your supporting documents, and also sometimes employment verification. This is largely done on the principal applicant – spouse’s usually just education documents (i.e. the portion of the spouse’s documents which contributes to the points).

But as I said, as a pre-June-2010 applicant you should prepare yourself for the fact that it could be a long wait ahead.

hi wayne,the status says that they have recieved the letter of my elligibility and going to have a final review,they are also asking for the second payment,im confused of my application of which its stand?what does it mean?what do i have to expect next?tnx a lot.

Hi – you’re not making any sense. When you say “they have received the letter of my eligibility and going to have a final review” do you mean that you have received their letter of final eligibility? That being the case your application will be forwarded to the visa office. The second payment (for right of permanent residents fee) is not usually required until they medical request stage.

hi wayne,yah i recieved the per email already (.your application has received a positive
final determination of eligibility for processing on the basis of work experience in an occupation).this is the per,am i correct?
how long does it take until it arrives at the visa office(manila particularly).and what do i have to expect next?thanks for ur response.

Hi. Usually it takes about 1 month from PER to the application arriving at visa office. Next you need to wait for your application to go “In Process”, so keep an eye out on ECAS (which you should now be able to access using the file number you got in your PER).
Best of luck,
Wayne.

Dear Wayne,
They started processing my application the 5th of july 2011,
I made my medical on the 27-7-2011 and i paid the RPRF , did I passed the documents background check or not yet ?
My status is still “IN PROCESS” , in your opinion how much time does it take to receive the PR ?
Thanks for your help in advance ….
Regards,
Bassem

But it depends on how your security checks go and the workloads of the medical services division of the visa office approving your medicals.

Your visa office should have specified a timeframe when they sent medical requests (usually about 2 to 3 months after you finished your medicals) so if you haven’t heard anything after that, send the visa office a query.

i am pharmacist actually i was prepared to apply under 3131category but in the last minute I withdrawn my decision not to apply because in this category already the cap reached to 440, and it may take one more week to send my application,,so by the time the cap may reach 500,,so my doubt is do the cic will have some applications to be reviewed with them after each update on tuesday,,so how much time it will take to review the file after reaching the cic…please clarify regarding this…

1) i am thinking to apply under the 2121 Biologists and Related Scientists,,,as i have around 1.2 years of experience in bioinformatics which was given as subtitle. So my doubt: Is this experience enough to apply under the 2121 category, because it was mentioned as only one point under the roles and responsibilities. And one more doubt is i worked in a very small pvt company…so do they look into such things when verifying small company or big cmpny.??

2) Right now i am working as drug safety reviewer (pharmacovigilance) Job roles includes: Analyze clinical data including serious adverse event information. Prepare and coordinate reviews of individual case safety reports and aggregate safety data. Plan and prepare a variety of clinical documents (e.g. clinical Common Technical Document modules and investigator’s brochures). Medically evaluate adverse event reports for seriousness, evaluate coding of adverse events and ensure that all relevant information is included in the applicable reports. Is there any chance of this experience to fall under the 2121 category.

1) Hi – the size of the company is not a criteria, however the operations manual to which the visa officer is working when he/she performs the eligibility review does state that the candidate’s work experience must match the lead statement and a “substantial number of the duties” of the NOC. Although they don’t specify exactly what “substantial” means, leaving this to the visa officer’s discretion to a certain extent, it is widely suspected that they like to see at least 50% of the duties covered.

A microbiologist lists around 8 duties, so IMO you would have to have had experience in at least 4 of these duties to qualify. There is a certain amount of discretion available to the visa officer here, so if you had a strong application they may consider you eligible with only 3 of the 8 duties, but I personally suspect they would fail you if you only had experience in 1 of the 8 duties of microbiologist.

2) With respect I really do not know anything about your industry, since I am a software developer, so I am not really qualified or experienced to advise if these duties match. It may be worth looking at the NOC for industrial pharmacist (3131) which could also be relevant, although the cap for 3131 has already been reached for this year.

Hi my application was received on 12 aug 2011 and I received PER on 7th November I was wondering when it will start showing on Ecas as till today it says we could not identifier ……… Etc and also how long it after jul 2011 applications. Thank you in advance.

For some people it can take a month or two to access ECAS. I know of some people who got their medical requests and still could not access it – so it is a bit hit and miss and certainly not to be relied on.
Nothing you can do but keep trying. Make sure you have your date of birth right, and your country of residence.

Hi there,
I sent application under skilled worker (Pharmacist). According to delivery confirmation documents recevied by CIO on 11 Oct 2011. I sent them about 02 Oct 2011. Can you please confirm me how long it will take to receive first email from Immigration office. Also please confirm if any objection will arise for example any form is missing or any form is not signed they will ask me to do it or reject the application and if 500 application cap reached will i be able to apply again or not?

Hi – usually you hear from CIO within about 2 months if you passed the eligibility review. If you are missing any documents they will usually reject your application, but because that is that the completeness check stage they simply mail your entire application back as incomplete, which can take up to 3 months.

Therefore really now that the cap is reached you would have to apply again next year if you failed this year for any reason.

But please be patient, hopefully you will get a positive eligiblity review soon.

I got my PER on October 17th , Iam applying under. FSW 1 NOc 631 restaurant manager.
I was living in dubai and my representative in Dubai when i applied in Deember 2011, we chose London as CHS VO , I have moved to singapore and informed cic by writing to change the VO from Dubai to Singapore , and we sent them our legal status ID in singapore before I got my PER . We asked Cic to use Singapore as VO as am living there for past 8 months.

My Ecas was showing after irecieved my PER as : application n received on July 17th 2011.
Today my Ecas is showing : In process ., after i click the word : In process it shows: We recieved your application on JULY 17th

Wat does in process mean??
I didn’t get any note that my file has been recieved by VO .
Is this a good sign my application is quickly under process ?
Thanks

I would like to ask for your opinion / suggestion regarding my situation. I am from the Philippines and my Canadian Permanent Residence Visa had been approved recently (just last week). Me and my fiancé are scheduled to get married next month. I did not include my fiancé on my Permanent Resident application because we are not yet married during that time.

Though my Permanent Visa Application was already approved, can I still include my soon-to-be husband in my Permanent Resident application? Can I bring him as well in Canada with me? If yes, what actions or steps should I do?

It’s already been two months but still no email or any information about my application, I also want to know if the Manila Embassy will send us both an email for her interview or any requiremnets they still need??

As I said, one cannot predict when medical requests will be forthcoming, and I regret I am going to have to start deleting such posts owing to the number of these I get, and cannot answer for the reasons stated.

Additionally – I mean this with respect – but your file has only been with the visa office for a couple of months. I know post-June-2010 applicants who have been waiting for 1.5 years and still no medical requests.

Hi Wayne.
Really appreciate your efforts here and i am also in dire need of some help here. We (my wife as PA and me ) are applying for NOC 3112 (General Practitioner) and currently reside in Saudi Arabia (our visa office is London) and are national of Pakistan (again same visa office = London). Now i have two questions
1. it states on document checklist number 8 ‘If the visa office you have specified for processing is not the visa office responsible for your country of nationality, provide proof that you have been lawfully admitted for a period of at least one year to a country for which the specified visa office is resposnbile.’ my question is that am i right in assuming that i dont need this proof? (as i am Pakistani and living in Saudi Arabia, and for both the countries visa office is London).
2. One of the above posts your replied confused me where you said one should have alteast one year of continuous full time work experience. BUTTT what if one has 6 months experience from company A, then one month unemployed and then 6 months experience with company B. Does this does not satisfy the second option (which you did not mention above) i.e. equivalent paid work experience in the past 10 years in one of the 29 qualifying occupations.

while writing this i came across one more question > should i mention ‘LONDON’ as visa office or ‘LONDON CHC’

1. That is correct, since London visa office is responsible for your country of nationality (Pakistan)

2. It is depends how long the visa officer will tolerate a break in employment, but the operations manual clearly states it should be continuous employment for at least 1 year. I don’t think you can paste together experience from multiple companies which are less than a year. But it may be one of those things that it down to the discretion of the visa officer.

How are you doing? I need your suggestion i received letter from CHC New Delhi they want me to send more documents regarding my employment.

All i can provide them is
1) Appointment letter,
2) Confirmation letter
3) Salary certificate from school which would state my joining date , My current salary and as i am drawing honorary and that to incash.
4) I have cash receipts for this year only.
5) I have annual appraisal letters for last 4 years in which principal has clearly mentioned honorary amount
6) i have photocopies of attendance sheets of last 4years sheets… can i send 3 months attendance sheets for last 4 years..
7) photographs at school function and school picnic aswell

I have been following your thread for a week now and i sincerely appreciate your approach towards answering candidates’ queries. Frankly, your answers are much informative than those given by many of the visa consultants!!
Please find my details as below:

Applied under FSW2- category 0631- as Restaurant Manager- having one and half years experience in the specified field.
Application Received at CIO- 4th February 2011- CAS- ” Application received”
1st AOR and positive assessment of Eligibility – 22nd March 2011- CAS- “Eligibility Review Complete”
File received at New Delhi V/O and letter issued- 18th April 2011- CAS- ” Received By Visa Office”
Visa Office Review Complete and Started processing on 7h November 2011- CAS- ” In Process”- with tag line as mentioned.

as per you how long it could take for medicals from this point of time.
I read a couple of comments where its mentioned it could take as long as 6 months too after In Process.
Just like most of candidates, i also have few important career decisions on hold due to this. I would be grateful if you can throw some light on my case.

As I have said, I really cannot predict when people will get medicals. This can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years – there are many, many factors.
But your application has only been in process for 1.5 WEEKS.

I applied on 4th August 2011 for FSW. My application received to CIO Sydeny on 8th August 2011. After several months I am unable to get status of my file. After several months pass on I sent mail to CIO Sydeny for search enquiry for my file. On 8th Nov I got reply with my file number on same number. Later I check my e-cas status. It show “In Proces” and when I click “In Process” it show my file received on 8th August. What is mean to show? It means only medical is pending or more.

“In Process” means they have received your file at the visa office and background document checks have begun. How long these checks can take varies greatly, depending on a large number of factors, so it isn’t possible to predict when you will get your medicals.

Please be patient – many applicants have been waiting a lot longer than you!🙂

hi. i applied under fsw category on 17th july 2011.i recived the file no.on 20th october. on 17th november i got an email that my file needs four other px of my son and my file transfered to warsaw(visa office). and on 19th november my ecas statue changed to in process.what is ur idea about when will i receive the medical?. thx

Thanks for considering my query even after your polite request.. total period since ” RBVO” is more than seven months.. its only “in process” more than 2 weeks..u mentioned in few comments it takes 4 to 6 weeks.. anyways thanks again for the response.
I will keep you posted on any updates..

I usually takes around a month for the application to even get to the visa office. And thereafter ECAS is a bit hit and miss with how long it takes to update.

CHC London is particularly slow at the moment m8. Certainly don’t think there’s any cause for concern with your case at the moment – the best tool you have to get through this is patience🙂
London won’t send an AOR – so the first actual communication you’ll get from them after PER, assuming they don’t want any updated documents or have any queries – will be medical requests a few months down the line.

I1 ) s any posibility to reject my application becasue i am currently working as secretary?. i applied under Social Worker and i had 4 years paid experience as Social Worker. Whether CIC will assess my present job nature also ?

The only considerations are if you have had 1 year’s full time paid employment in the past 10 years in one of the 29 in-demand job occupations, and also up to 4 years’ work experience for the points matrix, but that can be in any of the Skill Type 0, A or B jobs, it does not have to be in the NOC under which you applied. So your current role is largely irrelevant, it’s the work experience prior to applying which CIC are interested in.

oDear All:
I find this website really useful. This is my first visit, and I’m thoroughly impressed. However, I would like to know that how much time I should have to wait for my initial response from CIO. They received my complete application package on 27 October 2011. I heard that usually people get a respnose within a month via Email. In that case I’ve already observed a month. So, when may I get a reply form CIO. I would be glad if anyone could provide me a feedback.
-Razeen
!

I’d advise you to take a look on canadavisa.com, they probably have a thread there for post July 2011 applicants and I think someone is running a spreadsheet, so you can follow the timelines of other applications who applied at the same time as you.

Hi
We have applied under FSW category.We had applied from Pakistan,But in those days,all the FSW applications were getting tranferred to London visa office for processing.our application was also transferred to london visa office.
We had submitted our all the supporting documents and evidences to london visa office in JUNE 2010.We received a letter from london visa office saying that they had received all our documents etc in AUGUST 2010.
Now following are my application status details:

“We received your application for permanent residence on February 5, 2010.

We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on March 16, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

Your application and supporting documents were received by the London England office. They are pending review.

We transferred your application to the London England office on March 23, 2010. The London England office may contact you.

We transferred your application to the London England office on July 27, 2010. The London England office may contact you.”

I would like you to plz tel me WHEN HAD OUR PROCESSING STARTED??
AND,
Whether we will b in PRE-JUNE 2010 category or POST-JUNE 2010 category? (does dis depend on when our original docs etc were actually received by respective visa office?? )

Your application was originally received at CIO in Feb 2010, and therefore you will be categorized as pre-June-2010. Therefore your application will be processed on a low priority.

London VO are processing and issuing visas for pre-June-2010 but on a lower priority that those which are post-June-2010. There really is no telling when they will finish processing and issue medical requests. If you are lucky it could be within the next 6 months, but some post-June-2010 have been told by visa offices it could take up to 2 years to processing their applications.

hi there…
I found ur replies really helpful. I also have a query. I had applied via a consultancy. My complete application was sent to nova scotia on october 13 , 2011 under fsw 3131. And as of 25th november my bank draft is still unpaid even though the max cap has reached . When i contacted my consultancy about it they asked me to wait for at least 3 months before any response. Does tht mean my application will nt b accepted ?

There are 2 stages at CIO in Sydney. First is a completelness check. If your application fails this, your entire application will be returned as incomplete and they will not cash your draft. Owing to the length of time it can get documents back to other countries (including customs) it can sometimes take as long as 3 months to get the application back.

If your application passes the completeness check, then your draft will be cashed and your application will go for eligibility review. If you fail this review they will contact you by email, and issue a refund for the now cashed draft. If you pass the review they will also send you an email and your application will be sent to the visa office for further processing.

If your draft is definitely not cashed yet after 6 weeks or more, then there is a high chance your application failed the completeness check. I would advise you to send an online query to CIO. Although they do not keep specific details of incomplete applications they do keep a list of the ones they have sent back, and so should at least be able to tell you if your application has been returned.

Kulpreet in my opinion, i am sorry to tell you that if the CAP has reached and your DD is still not cashed. Your chances for this year are none. I will not mind sending an update check to CIO, although there is a high chance they would not reply to cases like yours. But still give it a go.

first of all i appreciate your informative support.
my enquiry is that i have done my medical in 26-09-2011. Medical result have been received after 10 to 15 days and one additional line added in my detail stutus. RPRF was cashed 21-10-2011. When i expect my PPR(visa office is london). can i send enquiry mail to chc london or wait. please guide me

Hi. We got our PPR by email a few days after we had “Decision Made” on ECAS. And this was about 1 week after we had the medical results received line, and we were London VO.

Therefore if an entire month has passed since you got that line and RPRF was cashed then I would send a case-specific online query to the visa office, asking if they have sent passport requests since the RPRF has been cashed and medical results approved.

I am 2007 applicant, medical was done in April, and I have received an urgent request to submit an updated PCC and background schedule form which was submitted in October. My question is how long it will take to receive the PPR request?

Hi
wayne
good news for me i see on ecase In Process” Your application was reviewed and we started processing on ”.22 nov
now my presser coming down 8month just i see in ecase recived by visa office
my visa office is newdelhi
my application is fsw i applyed march 2011 and i got 2aro letter newdelhi on april22 right now my ecase showing in process
so my question is after process how long take time to coming medical and next message ecase showing what pls let me know thanks

Sorry medical requests are impossible to predict because there are so many factors involved with the background document checks which proceed them.

2 months or so once in process is a good estimate but it can be as little as a few weeks, or some people have been waiting over a year. I would guess 1 to 2 months but that is of course just a guess.

Next ECAS status change is “Decision Made” although you will get an extra line during “In Process” or “Medical results have been received” once the visa office has received your medical results and their medical services division have approved them.

I received the medical forms from the Visa office in Damascus 5 weeks ago but my husband’s given name was misspelled so as advised i sent back the package for correction and till now i have no reply. Knowing that i called them and sent an email and a fax. what do you think? Thank you

Send them an online query or so, but generally these things take time. A misspelling is unfortunate but IMO you did the right thing but querying and sending back since it can cause so many problems further down the line.
Wayne.

Hi Wayne, sorry but i didn’t understand completely your reply, my concern was that i had a time limit of 2 months to send back the completed medical forms, and till now 5 weeks has passed and i couldn’t accomplish anything yet.

How long does it approximately take for the application to go from “Centralized Intake Office Sydney (CIO-S) Eligibility Review Complete” to “CIO Sydney – PER issued and file transferred” auusing that the review of the application was positive? We have applied from Buffalo visa office.

Thank you for your help and for explaining the process so well!
Niyati

After the positive review, the file is flagged for transfer but these are transported by diplomatic courier to the visa offices, so I imagine they wait until they have a batch and then send the batch in one go.

I’d allow 1 month or so for the visa office to receive the full application, and then of course you have to wait for it to go in process (when they begin the background checks on your supporting documents).

I am trying to wait be patience but this CAP (500 applications) is disturbing me.
As I informed you earlier my application was received by CIO on 11 Oct 2011(confirmation from delivery services) my NOC was below the Quota means about 250 application received by CIO by that date but last week its reached the upper limit and my payment is still not yet collected. I am 100% sure that my application is completed as I checked it so many times lets assume my application is completed than tell me in your opinion will this qouta will impact me?I am confused as it was below the limit when they received the application.

Iam Singaporean i visited Canada for tourism many times and got in love with the weather there now wishing to relocateto Canada , .I sent my immigration application from cic website dowmloaded filled and sent somewhere in July I can’t remember when but it was i in July 2011 .
Today I was checking my mail I found a letter from the Canadian embassy in Singapore informing me that they have recieved my file in November 8th.
But I sent the file to Canada not to Singapore!!! How is that???

Hi – you initially sent your application to CIO in Canada. They review your application and your documents and if their initial assessment is that you are eligible, they will forward your entire application to the visa office for further processing. So I assume your visa office is Singapore and that they have forwarded this to them, and that they have received it.

I am 2007 applicant, medical was done in April, and I have received an urgent request to submit an updated PCC and background schedule form which was submitted in October. My question is how long it will take to receive the PPR request? Year end !!!

I am trying to wait be patience but this CAP (500 applications) is disturbing me.
As I informed you earlier my application was received by CIO on 11 Oct 2011(confirmation from delivery services) my NOC was below the Quota means about 250 application received by CIO by that date but last week its reached the upper limit and my payment is still not yet collected. I am 100% sure that my application is completed as I checked it so many times lets assume my application is completed than tell me in your opinion will this qouta will impact me?I am confused as it was below the limit when they received the application.

Hi – send a query to CIO, they will be able to tell you if your application is awaiting processing (e.g. it made it through the quota) or they returned it. Although they don’t keep specific details of returned applications which did not make it through the completeness check, they do keep a list of the ones they’ve returned.

Either way I would send a query to CIO, since it is very strange that your application has been there for 2 months without the draft yet being cashed.

Hi Wayne
my application was received on 12 aug 2011 and I received PER on 7th November I was wondering when it will start showing on Ecas as till today it says we could not identifier ……… Etc.but it started working from last 10 days and it shows “In Process”.Is that normal,also my immigration company is based In Toronto and I am from india,so who they will correspond regarding Medicals. Thank you in advance.

In process is indeed a good sign, however it is a bit premature to say “Pack your bags”. People can fail during the background document checks, or at medicals stage (although that is rare), or during security checks.

I wish everyone the best of luck, but please keep it real and don’t count your chickens until they have hatched!🙂

Wayne you are doing such a great job… I congratulate you on that..
My online status says ‘IN PROCESS’ and I have got a mail asking to submit my medical (which I went through on 22rd Nov 2011) , PCC, RPRF and original Passports (which I had courier on 5th Dec 2011). What would be the next procedure and an estimate of how much time does it take to receive a reply?

Next stage is passport requests, which will happen after the visa office have received your medical results and their medical services division have approved them, and also once the security checks are clear.

Probably 2 months from when they received your results would be a good guideline, but it can vary a bit. With Christmas holidays I’d say probably somewhere between the begininning and end of February for passport requests.

I applied for PR – Skilled Worker, in 2004 in India (New Delhi). Status – In Process – Started processing application on 25th March, 2004. Submitted documents again in July, 2008, as asked by them. Since then not heard anything from them. How long it will take.
I have two daughters doing BA LLB 1st Year and 12th. Both will finish session by June 2012. Should I apply for student visa for them? I dont want to be stuck in India for 5 years in case I get the PR Visa earlier.

No way to tell how long PR will take, especially for pre-Feb-2008 cases – could be months, could be many more years yet. You can’t really plan your lives around getting the PR visa, so unless you are prepared to try to secure a job offer and apply under FSW2 or provincial nomincation (I assume you do not have experience in one of the 29 in-demand NOCs in order to apply under FSW1?) then I would just focus on continuing your life in India, and deal with the move if and when you get the visa.

My husband applied for Skilled workers PR on July 2011 and the post reached cia on 2nd of august which actually was within the 500 limit. And we have heard that basically up to 2 weeks bank draft would to be charged, but till now nor our bank draft has been charged nor have we received any mail from them and neither our package has been returned.
I therefore would like to request you to kindly suggest us what we should do next.
thank you
Mamtaa

Contact CIO via online query. If your bank draft has not been cashed in all this time, then it is highly likely that your application either failed to make it within the cap, or that it was deemed incomplete. If it’s for NOC 1122 then most people seem to think that only applications received up to mid July made it within the cap – you can probably find out by visiting the relevant thread on the canadavisa.com forum.

Although CIC don’t keep specific details of returned applications, they do keep a list of the ones they returned so if you send them a query they should be able to tell you. But right now my best guess regrettably is that your application did not make it within the cap.

If you applied under NOC 1122 then apparently the limit was actually reached with applications received up until mid-July, even though CIC did not finished opening these/doing completeness checks until mid to late August.
So my guess is that your application did not make it within the cap. It can take up to 3 or 4 months to get the full application back from CIO.

Certainly I would send them an online query enquiring about your application. They do not keep specific details of returned applications but they do keep a list, so they should be able to tell you if your application made it within the cap or not.

I have send the documents on 29th nov and they received it on 2nd dec.I have a small confusion in the application i have a work offer from an employer but i di not get any lmo for thats cause i am working under work permit presently in Toronto but even without considering the work permit i do have enough points for federal skilled immigration.What category will they consider my application.I did not know how to select FSW1 or FSW2. If there is a problem with FSW1 will they automatically consider FSW2 or i have to apply again.

Hello, im new here.I would like to ask on what to since I didnt received any letter from CIO nova scotia.I send my application under NOC3152 last July 19,2011and received last July 25,2011.Please guide me.thank you very much

If your application passed the completeness check and eligibility review at CIO then you should have received an email from CIO and your file should have gone to the visa office.

Did you check your email carefully (including junk folders)? In any case, you can contact CIO via their website and enquire as to the status of your application. All July applications should have had their eligiblity reviews done by now so they should be able to let you know if you made it to the visa office stage.

I am Faisal, i had appled under fsw noc 7216 in MAY… through a consultancy.later in AUGUST i got the reply from my consultancy that it has been rejected as they had not recieved my sisters documents who stays in canada and also only 2 yrs of my experience was considered. later it was appealed from the legal dept of the consultancy saying that i have all the req exp and also my sisters documents were sent.
again in nov 28 2011 i got a call from my consultqncy saying that cic has re opened my case and i have been qualified..and the letter from CIC intake office was emailed to me… in which it said please disregard the letter sent to you on aug 3rd and i got a confirmation saying that based on reviews your application has recieved a positive final eligibility for processing…. got my APPLICATION/FILE NO. and reciept no. too.

the same day i checked online status it said ” A DECESION HAS BEEN MADE IN UR CASE” on clicking i got we recived your application and we reviwed pls consider delays in mail delivery and a decision has been made in ur case our office will contact you..

PLSS NOTE: this was the status on the day i recieved my file no. that is nov 30th.(and the dates were of AUGUST when my file was rejected)
but the letter which i got from cic had said DISREGARD THE LETTER RECIEVED ON AUGUST 3RD.

however, the second day i checked the online status had changed saying that CIO eligibility review completed…
can you please tell me when i got the file no. after reconsidering my case and also it says cio eligibility review completed.. then why is online status
after clicking on cio eligibility review completed it still says… we recieved your application in may and a letter has been on AUGUST and a decision has been made on your application????? why has it not been updated?????? even after recieving my file no..?

I am planning to apply by 2nd January 2012 but my pcc was issued on 14 th of Oct 2011. Hence the 3 month period expires by 14th of Jan 2012. Is it still ok to apply using police clearance certificate that I already have or should I go for a new one
? Many thanks.
Warm regards,
Satish

Hii Wayne,
Its really nice to go through the different posts in your blog and see relevant answer to each query, I Applied ending November , 2011 for FSW1 NOC 4152 (social workers) category. I filed my application myself by taking help from your expert advice.
I have query. if possible please answer… I applied in NOC 4152 since I am working as a Supervisor of Social Work in Govt Social Welfare department in india Since July, 2003 in full time permanent capacity with total experience of around nine years. All my present job responsibilities match to that of NOC 4152 but main problem is that I got job in govt department after finishing my studies i.e., MSc,. Botany with continuous 17 years regular full time studies. I joined my job immediately. I have got all the trainings and refresher courses that were required for my job in social welfare department.
Since I applied under NOC 4152, but i have a doubt regarding my qualifications as it didn’t match as required for social workers category i.e., Masters in social sciences or diplomas in social work or child welfare.
Are their the chances that CIO may fail PER of my application on this ground. Else all my documents checklist is complete with relevant experience letters.
In Social Workers till now only 233 applications are received by CIO.
Another thing is that I Also joined University to pursue Ph.D. in botany as a part-time candidate and likely to get my phd degree by ending march 2012. My specializations in research is also there in NOC list of 29 occupations i.e. Biologists as I have worked for my phd in Algalogy and Ecology. During this I was fortunate enough to present my work at various international Symposiums/conferences in Ireland, Scotland and London. during research period.
Please advice my likely chances of my application for PR to canada.
With Regards,
Nitika Sharma
India

Hi Wayne,
I lodged my file on 10.01.2011 and my cic sent me first AOR on 15.03.2011 after that I got my second AOR ( From New Delhi) in April,2011.
After that I started to view my application status online and it said to me ” IN PROCESS ” .
On 14.12.2011 I show my application status changed to ” RECEIVED BY VISA OFFICE”.
I haven’t received anything from VO after second AOR. I am just confused what is going on….what does it means??? what you think how log it takes to get m file decision? it’s nearly one year… when they ask for my pcc and medical???

I received all my correspondance ( i.e. first AOR and second AOR) to my overseas address. But now no one live at my overseas address.
My immigration representative lives in canada and he changed my address ( current Address) . and he got confirmation. But my e-cas show me my old overseas address I asked to my representative about this thing He told me cic got your current address but they didnt changed to e-cas system.
I am Waiting for your reply.
Thanking you
Ketan

You have only been IN PROCESS for a few weeks. Please be patient. The visa office are in the process of performing background checks on your supporting documents. Once this is complete you will get medical requests once they are satisifed, but be prepared to wait a month or two yet.

dear wayne
first of all let me thank you for this wonderful site .it is really so useful ….
i do have a problem … on nov 2010 i applied for immigration to canada as a pharmacist from oman via a consultant .. on feb 2011 i got file number but with refusal letter telling that they r not satisfied with my experience letter as it is not showing all my duties as a pharmacist.. so, my lawyer advised me to resend a new experience letter to cio along with my file number which by the way showing eligibility review complete. so, on july 2011 , the lawyer sent it and on nov 2011 , my ecas was updated to in process and when i press it , it shows we received ur application on 3 august 2011 . suddenly one week ago it is changed to decision made and when i press it it shows : we received ur application … then we started processing ur application on 9 dec 2011 then A decision has been made on your application. The office will contact you concerning this decision. . i contacted my lawyer who told me that he didnt receive anything regarding my case and he will send an inquiry regarding that… now i dont know if it is a rejection or what …. please give me ur advise ..
thanks for ur help in advance

Hi. Firstly once CIC have rejected an application they will not consider any new documentation. So sending a new experience letter will do no good. So when your applications was refused in Feb 2011 they would not have considered the new experience letter. Although quite why they took until 9 Dec 2011 to change ECAS to decision made, I have no idea.

In any case, decision made prior to medical requests is a rejection.

You can try contacting your visa office via online query or something to confirm, but usually any correspondence will go via your agent.

It doesn’t sound to me like your agent has a good grip of what’s going on, so I’d also chase him. But from here it sounds like your application is rejected, and your best bet now may be to prepare for a new application in July 2012 and hope that NOC 3131 is still on the list.

hi wayne, sorry for bothering you again, i am from lebanon,and i am a little bit confused. i told you earlier about my problem. i received the medical forms on november 4, and my husband’s given name was misspelled so when i called the embassy in damascus they gave me 2 choices. the first was to go in person to receive instantly the corrected ones, and the second was to send back the package by mail for correction. we couldn’t go in person, so we sent back the package via express shiping, and they received it at november 13. till now i don’t have a reply, knowing that i sent them an email and a fax enquiring about the problem, with no answer. my concern is that i had a time limit of 2 months to sent back the completed forms, aqnd that time is ending. could it be that they are counting down the time, or its takes that time normally? thank you in advance.

Thanks for your replys, As i had told you previously that i got my file# just last month.
my question is previously i stayed in UAE for about 6 n half months on an employment visa
i returned back and contacted my employer that i cannot get back my employer was nice to me
and asked me to send my pp so that he can cancel my visa. luckily the visa was cancelled
and i got the cancellation papers too. but now i heard pcc from UAE is very important in the later stages
cic will ask for it? i have anyhow hired an agent who would help me out to get this.. but still i want to know
is it very important to get pcc from UAE? as iv lived there for just 6 months 18 days…
can cic be liberal if im not able to obtain one??im scared

Ultimately you will need a PCC for every country in which you have resided for more than 6 months during the past 10 years.

If the visa office ask for it when you go in process you will need to try to get it. If you cannot then send them a letter explaining the reasons. It will be down to the discretion of the visa officer whether or not he/she is prepared to make a positive decision without the PCC.

HI , wayne,
i applied pre- june 2010 under FSW (38 catagory program ) lecturer exp. with more than 8 years.
E-cas show me ” decision made ” . the office will contact you concerning this decision. since 21st nov 2011.
we Received app. april 12, 2010.
and i submitted full docs. in oct 2010 . with 76 points. everthing is in time limit.
desperately waiting for reply.
wat you think ? how much time reqired for medical ?and if i m not in new 28 catagory they can reject my case ?
or i hv to wait for positive reply ?
thanks for your guidenance in Advance …..

If you have decision made on your application and you have not yet taken medicals, then regrettably it looks like your application has failed. They won’t fail your application for not being on the current 29 list, because you were eligible at the time you applied under the 38 list. However, there are many other reasons why your application may have failed.

Which VO do you belong to? I belong to NDVO… I am also from same NOC, so writing to you… But I applied 1st October 2010 and am currently waiting for MR… However, good to know you! All the best for your application….

Hello Everyone. This is Razeen from Bangladesh. My Application Package was received by the CIO Sydney, Nova Scotia on 27 October 2011. It’s almost two months or 60 days; but still I haven’t got any response from them. Is there anyone who has got any response with the same time frame? Can anyone put any light that how long may I have to wait? I’ll be glad if anyone of you could provide me some information regarding the issue mentioned above.
Cheers!
-Razeen

Hi wayne, thanks alot for your help. Your suggestions are very healpful for the new applicant like me. I have queries in regard to my application. I have applied for FSW1,2121 NOC. Based on Fedex express information it has been delivered at central intake office at 8th december. But the total complete applicant till that day on my NOC was 424. Will my application fall under Max. Cap. I am very much worried by this Cap problem. When i could know my application is selected. Can we make any guess based on encashed of Bank Draft? Pls can u give any suggestion? John

Difficult to say. The numbers on the CIC website are the number of COMPLETE applications which they have opened as of that time. The number of actual applications received at any one time is undoubtedly higher.

All you can really do is check for your processing fees being cashed. If they’re not cashed by the end of January I’d say there’s a good chance that you didn’t make the cap.

Hey guys anybody their who have applied in december in FSW1. Can we guess if the application has been selected or not through bank draft encashed information?generally how much time does it take for bank encashment by CIO?

My question is that we just sent our application to the courier address(the georgia street one) on 19 dec 2011 and it arrived there at 28th.The caps under the catagory were 452(28 dec).I think i application is complete.I wanted to ask that do we get call from cio once at application first arrives there because i was a little confused that did our application even reach there or not. Please try to answer my quary ASAP!🙂 Thanks

Hi friend,
You will not be contacted by CIO when your application is received. The best way to find if your application made it into the cap is when the draft is cashed/credit card charged – because at this stage the application made it past the completeness check and is considered within the cap.

Happy new year to all in the forum.
Today while I was checking my ecas status, I found below message. Can anyone advice on this?
Thanks,
Ibrahim

We were not able to identify you using the information you provided. There could be three possible reasons:

•Please be sure the information you entered is correct and then try again.
•This service is only available to clients with applications in process. We may have received your application but not yet begun processing it. The following link may help you determine if your application is being processed:
Application Processing Times
•At this time, you may use this on-line service to view the status of your application ONLY if you have:
•sponsored a member of the family class;
•applied for permanent residence from within or outside Canada;
•applied for a permanent resident card (initial, replacement or renewal);
•applied for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship);
•applied for Canadian citizenship for a person adopted by a Canadian citizen (on or after January 1, 1947);
•applied for a citizenship certificate (proof of Canadian citizenship);
•applied to renounce Canadian citizenship; or
•applied to resume Canadian citizenship.
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) may help you to access the status of your application through CAS.

I am a physio and I am planning to apply for the FSW visa by the end this week. I am have a query and it is regarding experience certificate for my spouse.
In the last ten years, she has worked with several different employers and it would be a daunting task to get reference from all of them. Hence, my question is, must we produce experience certificate for the dependant as well? Anyway, we mention their work history in the personal history section of the background declaration form. Also, in the check list it says experience certificate for the principal applicant but nothing about dependant. I appreciate your valuable suggestions.

Hi – I believe that with the NEW forms (i.e. July 2011 onwards) on the checklist you do NOT have to get work experience letters for accompanying spouse any more. Prior to July 2011 you had to get work experience letters for spouse (my wife was PA and we applied in August 2010 and had to get work experience letters for me, it was a pain!).

This makes sense since the spouse’s work experience does not contribute towards the points matrix or in any way towards the application’s validity.

So anyway to the best of my knowledge you only need work experience letters and contracts for the principal applicant.

Hi
Very good details provided – CIC processes for federal skill workers class.I just recently got my E0000******* file number late Dec 2011 after submitting my application through an immigration law firm also late Sept 2011. I have been advised by my representative, that it takes 5 – 8 months to get feedback from the visa post in Accra. How I wish things can be progressed faster especially when my whole mind is now pointing at relocating to Canada as quick as possible – I have waited too long in filing my application in the first instance due to other external pressures of work without being able to pull together all required filing documents.
Is there any possibility of getting my RP visit before August 2012? Looking at 8 months from now believing that security and medical requirements would have been completed latest by July 2012.

Once more, many thanks for this explicit details on the entire CIC process for FSWP.

Had a question regarding the post-June 26 category. I began my application process in January 2010, and had received my first file number in March, right after that I had prepared the rest of the documents and had them sent over which the London office received in July. I then got my 2nd file number in October. It’s now been more than a year since then. I am confused about whether I fall in the pre-June or post-June 26th category. Any clarification on your end would be great. Thanks!

My question is that we just sent our application to the courier address(the georgia street one) on 19 dec 2011 and it arrived there at 28th.The caps under the catagory were 452(28 dec).I think my application is complete.I wanted to ask that do we get call from cio once at application first arrives there because i was a little confused that did our application even reach there or not. Please try to answer my quary ASAP! Thanks

Hi – the key thing to watch out for at this stage is to see if your bank draft has been cashed (or credit card charged). If that is the case, then your application safely within the cap, and then it will be forwarded to an immigration officer for the eligibility review.

If your application didn’t make it within the cap it will be returned, but this can take up to 3 or 4 months, so definitely keeping an eye on your processing fees being cashed is the first indicator.

I’ve applied for NOC 3131 in Oct and Application received at CIO, Nova Scotio in last week of Oct.
I came to know from the various threads/forum/spreadsheets that NOC 3131 cap is reached before Sept. 2011.
Furthermore, when i applied Total Complete Application was at 380. Till today bank draft is not yet en-cashed
Please advice that is there any possibility that my application is included in cap limit. ?
Is there any possibilities of again including NOC 3131 in new MI 2012. ?
Senior’s please can any one tell me how is the cap limit calculated ?

At last but not least, I am like wave of ocean “Greatest glory of wave and mine is NOT never falling and failing but rising every time we fall and fail.”

Bank drafts are usually cashed fairly quickly once the application is received – usually within a few weeks once the completeness check is done.
I think any application which was received in September 2011 and draft not yet cashed, regrettably, has not been included in the cap.

Because of slow Canada post and also customs delays, it can take up to 3 or 4 months for the applications to be returned.

Sorry, but I do not think there is a chance your application has been included.

As for next year, who knows. The list will have been the same for 2 years come July 2012, so I believe there will probably be some changes to it – but the chances of any one NOC remaining on the list cannot be predicted. We don’t have the data that CIC use to determine whether or not the occupation is in-demand.

Thanks for such a useful information in the blog. I am new to this blog and have a query. Sorry it won’t bother you much. well i Applied under FSW 1 in NOC Code 4152 (Social Workers) and my file reached in CIO on 7th December 2011. I Know it would take sometime to get the reply from CIC on file status.
I am working in Department of Social Welfare and Child and Women Welfare, Govt. of India as Supervisor of various Social Welfare Schemes since last 9 years. I joined the service after Post graduation in botany i.e., regular 17 years education. with all this i got more then required 67 points for FSW1 category. ..Besides job i am also pursuing Ph.D. in botany on part time basis in one of the top university and presently I am compiling my phd thesis as well and likely to get the Ph.D degree in next six months. I have mentioned everything in SOP and my CV along with my PR file. My IELTS bands are 7 in each. My question is that is my file eligible for qualification in NOC 4152 as my attained qualification .i.e., MSC. Botany and work experience don’t match as I am full time Govt. Employee since 9 years.
I am still doubtful on this aspect.Before applying i consulted many immigration experts regarding this issue but all were of the opinion that if you have experience of more then 5 years in one occupation with practical experience and training in required job then this does not matter and you have chances to qualify. So please clear my doubt if any. When I Applied the No of applications received by CIO were 175 and with in month its goes up to 339 by January 9th. For VISa fee i supplied CC details and still payments are not cashed by CIC.
Please suggest me something as I am quite tense now a days on my file..Should I contact CIC if I don’t receive ny reply from them by end of this month.?
regards,
NITIKA, India

Hi, regrettably I don’t know enough about your particular field of work. If the NOC specificies a minimum set of qualification needed for the job, CIC will usually want to see these, especially if the occupation is regulated, since they want to be certain you can establish yourself in that profession.

But until CIO finishes your eligibility review there is not much you can do about it anyway – just sit back, relax and wait🙂

hi wayne.. Me and my husband have applied for canadian pr under fsw program for category 4152. Two days before I got an email from immigration regarding medicals. They also asked for the police clearance certificate of India for both of us and also australian police certificate for my husband who lived there for almost 4 years. Now my husband has confustion regarding the type of australian police certificate they want as there are two format which is complete disclosure and other is standard disclosure which requires finger prints.

The problem is that we have to submit all this stuff by 26-02-2012. If they want Standard disclosure certificate which requires 30 days processing time, then its very hard to do it on time. Please do let me know what kind of certificate should they require for submission

Sorry I really don’t know anything about Australian police certificates. You may be better making a post on a forum such as Canadavisa.com skilled worker section and see if one of the Australian applicants on there might be able to advise you.

I have send the documents a month back but i have not send them as notorized copies will they accept it i have send the origianl experience letter , ielts and my employment letter.I have send my university documents just a photocopy not notorized. ples let me know whas going to happen.

We received your application for permanent residence on February 22, 2011.

We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on March 30, 2011. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

Your application was reviewed and we started processing on December 7, 2011.

Does the line above mean I should wait for a few more months before any correspondence. My VO is New Delhi.

BTW, My employer & I got a telephonic verification call from the NDVO on SEP 27, 2011 when my status was RBVO.

The CHC ND has done all the verifications in my case and requested an explanation letter seeking clarification regarding the inconsistencies in my case (as there were a few things differently said on the verification call by me & my employer). Sent the necessary explanation letter and a supporting letter along with another reference letter and salary certificates to the VO.

Subsequently, On DEC 7, 2011, it changed to IN PROCESS.

Are there any other background checks left to be done. When should I expect any correspondence from the visa office.

It’s entirely down to the visa officer processing your case. Next step could be medical, or could be request for further information, or could be rejection. You won’t know until you hear and no real way of telling how long it will take.

I have a question, I have recentely send my application on dec 3rd 2011 for fsw and i have made a mistake i guess i have send original ielts , experience letter , finiancial support letters, But i have send the copies of my university documents and passport copies and my birth certificate whis is not notorized.I hope they will not sen my application back cause of not notorizing it.I saw in the document checklist if the documents are not in english or french then we have to send a tralslated as well as notorized copy. Pls let me know

Hi Wayne
I have received my 2nd Aor from new Delhi visa office on 13 December .Does it mean I have passed visa office eligibility review and also do u have any idea how long Delhi office takes to complete process and also how
much time they give u for submitting PCC or medical because last time they sent letter to my representive in Canada which took 25 days and then they emailed me .I will really appreciate your help.

Hi jasveer….. after receiving first AOR how much time did it take to recieve the second AOR???
also unless you are eligible for the process your documents will not be sent to visa office, so i think
you dont have to worry about that…

Quick question. New Delhi CHC has asked for my passports, medicals and PCCs and I’ve submitted the same too. Does this mean I will get a PR? Wondering so as they have asked for the passports too. Have they rejected the visas after asking for passports? I am so nervous right now.

Most visa officers will not ask for passports until they are ready to approve the application.

New Delhi works a little differently, in that they ask for the passports at the same time as medical requests. So you are most of the way there – since all the background document checks and eligibility reviews are not complete.

If you have medical requests then your application can only fail if your are medically or criminally inadmissable to Canada. So as long as you haven’t committed any crimes and don’t have any serious health conditions, you should hopefully get your visa within the next few months🙂

Hi Wayne,
Its really nice to go through the different queries and your reply in your blog. Actually, I first applied in April 2010 and submitted all document in December 2010. My application status (online) is as follows:

“We received your application for permanent residence on .. May 2010.
We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on.. August 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
Your application and supporting documents were received by the London England office. They are pending review.
A decision has been made on your application. The office will contact you concerning this decision.
We transferred your application to the London England office on .. August 2010. The London England office may contact you.”

Then I received a letter from UK office which was sent in May 2011. The letter suggested me that it takes, on average, 12 month to process. However, the letter also says, ” if you have not received any instructions from us within 8 months of the date of this letter, please contact this office”. I emailed the office, however, I haven’t received any reply yet. At the moment, my ‘Permanent Residence Application Status’ shows that my application is “In Process”.
I don’t understand, how long this processing will take. I would appreciate your suggestion.

In process means they are performing background checks on your supporting documents. No way to tell how long it will take (as I’ve said several times on here) – it varies greatly from applicant to applicant on a large number of factors.

I have applied in May 2011 and my current status is showing as “In Process” with the inside line that the application has been reviewed and processing has started on 8th December. Any body has received MR in the same timeline. Please comment.

Is this the application you’ve posted, or your supporting documents to your visa office?

If it is the application, it will be some time before you get a file number and ECAS is available to you. If it is the supporting documents for a pre-June-2010 case, you should still have a file number when CIO performed your initial eligibility review? If you don’t have this I would contact your visa office via online query with your name, date of birth, address and NOC code etc requesting the file number.

Thanks god , The CHC London send me a letter requesting RPRF & PCC for the countries i lived in in the past 18 years ( Jordan & Lebanon ) but I have few questions regarding this issue :

1) The London CHC didn’t request PCC from Saudi Arabia the country which i live in for now and for more than 3 Years .????
2) It is almost 2 months now since i sent the PCC & RPRF to London visa office and NO RESPONSE and whenever i check my eacse it sayd thai they have received my medicals and it is still in process and i’m very worried about that ?????

Hello everyone
My ecas address disappeared. Last time it disappeared I received my 2nd aor and after receving the letter it appeared again, now it disappear again does it mean I will get a update on my case . Please help.

I am new to this website and after reading the comments, I have a feeling this might be little helpful. I applied in 2009 but for some reason I didn’t get my file number. I got my file number in Nov 2010. By then, I also got a positive arranged employment under managerial category (manager position at a restaurant). Haven’t heard anything since then. I also got in touch with my consultant and she says she’ll let me know as soon as she hears something from immigration authorities. But honestly I am losing my patience now. All my friends who applied with me got their pr in 2010 itself. I understand every case is unique but I am facing delays at every stage. I don’t know what to do. I thought it doesn’t take long if you have arranged employment. If I try to check my application status, it says “in process”: I would really appreciate your reply. Does it take this long to process an application even when you have arranged employment????

From experiences of friends of mine who recently applied, those applying with arranged employment and temporary work permits are taking even longer to process than FSW1. Our friends applied 1 week after us (same visa office), and got their visa 7 months after us. We were FSW2, they were FSW2.

Please also note that as a pre-June-2010 applicant your application will be processed on a low priority basis at the visa office. This means they will be processing pre-June-2010 applications sporadically, focussing their main attention on post-June-2010.

So I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, but I think you will just need to be patient for a while longer yet.

hello,
I have applied for FSW 1 and my application received by CIO on 3 january 2012 , I have included all requested documents in the application package. the problem is that I have send supporting document of my master degree such as exam form and approve of completion the thesis and laboratory work ,will it be accepted instead of a Masters degree certificate I am afraid my application rejected because I have 64 point with out the master degree, should i send them another document.

University degrees must have the original transcripts in sealed University envelopes.

Anything less than that is down to the discretion of the visa office (or even the clerk running the completeness check). Have you included a notarized copy of the degree certificate?

Regrettably there isn’t much you can do at this stage, since without a file number it is unlikely CIO will match up any further documents you send in, so you really will just have to wait and see what happens now. If you pass the CIO eligibility review and get a file number, you can send further supporting documents to the visa office.

Quick question. New Delhi CHC has asked for my passports, medicals and PCCs and I’ve submitted the same too. Does this mean I will get a PR? Wondering so as they have asked for the passports too. Have they rejected the visas after asking for passports? I am so nervous right now.

I wanna ask you if do i have to update my work situation and send an Email to my VO given that i change my position and responsabilities inside my company since december ’cause i’m not sure of this matter and is this gonna delay my processing time?
Do you recomenend to assess our documents for experience and education way before we arrive over there or just start a couple of months before arriving in canada?

I am from Bangaladesh. I applied in April 2010, and I sent all documents to Singapore office in August 2010. My status has been IN PROCESS for last 5 months. recently, on January 10, 2012, i received an email from
“re-singapore-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca” to submit my update documents within 2 months if i want to get more points.

my question is if i dont get more points, do i need to send update? what does this email mean? does it indicated any rejection? i haven;’t received any medical request yet? how long should i wait?

What exactly do they say? Do they indicate how short of points you are?

It seems very strange, a visa officer would not normally ask an applicant to submit documents to obtain further points. My guess is maybe you are very close on points, say 65 or 66, and the officer feels it may be worth asking for further documents. The obvious place where one can possibly improve is language. Did you score maximum language? If not is it possible to take another IELTS test to improve your language score?

Without more details it’s difficult to comment, but this is my best guess.

hi i just want to ask.. if i have 8 months of work from a different company then a year and a half from my current company. what will be my points with regard to work experience ? will it be considered as 2 yr work? or they will just consider the current work w/c is A year and a half? Thanks very much. both work are under the same NOC and with a break of only 1 week before i started my current job. thanks!!

My understanding is that all full-time work will be counted, even if it is for part of a year, with regards to the points matrix.

However, in order to be eligible for FSW1 the one year’s experience in one of the 29 NOCs DOES have to be continious 1 year experience (although you can have say 1 year’s experience with some part of the NOC description, and another year’s experience with another company for another part etc).

In other words they should count up all your full-time work experience when calculating if you made the 67 points or not.

hello
i have submitted my application for NOC 0639 in october 2011 and they received on 28 october 2011 since that time i have not yet received any kind of reply and my bank is not able to tell me wether my draft has been cashed or not , could anybody plz tell me how long they take to send 1st replay and what u think about my application status
thanks
waiting for your kind reply
javed

hi wayne,
i just wanna ask tht my fsw case is in process at london visa office my ecas status showing in process with extra line in detail tht we received your application for permanent residence on date…. I am worried tht why they have not written tht we reviewed your application and started processing on date….. Some ppl are saying tht this could be computer error ,what do you say ?
Thanx ,sheela

Hi – when the application first passes eligibility review at CIO it can often go in a false state of “IN PROCESS” where they only have “We received your application on XYZ” and not the ” .. and started processing line”.

This it seems is perfectly normal and is nothing to worry about – shortly your application should revert to the “Received by visa office” state. When it then goes “IN PROCESS” again with the extra line “We reviewed your applicatoin and started processing on XYZ” date then it is truly in process at the visa office and your supporting documents will be having the background checks run.

I realise it is quite confusing, but regrettably ECAS is far from ideal and can be vague, even misleading, at times.

The CHC London send me a letter requesting RPRF & PCC for the countries i lived in in the past 18 years ( Jordan & Lebanon ) but I have few questions regarding this issue :

1) The London CHC didn’t request PCC from Saudi Arabia the country which i live in for now and for more than 3 Years .????
2) It is almost 3 months now since i sent the PCC & RPRF to London visa office and NO RESPONSE and whenever i check my eacse it says that they have received my medicals and it is still in process and i’m very worried about that ?????

Hi. If the visa office hasn’t asked for a PCC, then don’t worry about it. If they wanted an updated PCC from Saudia Arabia, they would have asked for it.

Regarding London, they can be quite slow. Also they run security checks concurrently with getting medicals done, and since you’ve lived in a number of countries it is probably taking a while to get all the security checks back, which I think is where the hold-up will be.

Hi Wayne,
I applied in 5 May 2011, this is my 2nd application initial one was in 2005 which did not yield any result,in the meantime I went as a student in 2006 to Canada and returned in 2008 because of family problem back home.I then applied again in may 2011, received my medicals,passport and right of permanent residency fees which i submitted on dec 5th 2011 but till date I have not received anything.On query, immigration officer replied through email that certain background checks are going on and since they have authorized certain agencies for this therefore,they can’t predict the deadline.
My query is
1. what kind of background check they might do
2.I have some pending credit card bills and phone bills in Canada,do they also perform credit history checks back in Canada for the time I was there
3.I am not involved in any criminal activity how much time does it generally take after submission of pcc,med,passports etc
4. I was told to submit pcc from India only.

If you have already taken medicals then generally you are 99% there. Your application can only really fail now if you are medically or criminally inadmissable to Canada.

Once you received medical requests it means the background document checks have been satisfactorily completed. The other part to the background checks are the security checks, which are ongoing and I think this is what they mean.

As explained in my other posts, CIC are not interested in your credit rating, but they DO insist that your total assets exceed your total debts by at least the minimum required settlement funding level.

FIRST TIME MY APPLICATION WAS REJECTED DUE TO UNSUFFICIENT WORK.THE FEE WAS REFUNDED TO ME.NEXT TIME i.e IN 2010 I WAS REAPLLIED AS FEDERAL SKILLED WORKER.NOW MY ONLINE STATUS SHOWING THAT IN PROCESS.BUT I WROTE IELTS IN 2009.IS THEY ASK FOR SRORE AGAIN OR INTERVIEW.
REPLY ME SOON.
THANKING YOU.

IELTS does not expire in the same way a PCC does. It just has to be valid at the time it is received by CIC, after that you shouldn’t need to retake another one even if the processing time causes the IELTS results to go over 2 years.

CIC doesn’t usually perform a credit check, and in any case they are merely interested in your CURRENT level of debts and assets. Basically your current assets minus current debts must be at least the minimum settlement funds level.

But CIC aren’t a bank, you’re not asking for a loan or mortgage, so they are not interested in your actual credit rating.

Contact CIO – I can’t remember the exact page but there is an online form on the CIC website where you can contact CIO. They should be able to tell you the exact status of your application, although it does seem strange you have heard nothing at all yet.

Hi Mohammad – this probably just means your application has been added to ECAS (where it is often confusingly added as “IN PROCESS”). Do you have the additional line on the details of ECAS which something like “We reviewed your application and started processing XYZ”? Without that additional line your application isn’t yet truly in process, and the next stage should be “RECEIVED BY VISA OFFICE”.

Thanks very much for your efforts and thanks for your valuable assistance to all of us.
We are all appreciating your efforts and time on answering our queries.
It seems that In Process of my ECASE is as you mentioned that it is not actually meaning in Process.
so I will be waiting further contact from VO in London which I am Expecting this week or the week after as per the replies of others that I read although I am sure that there is no timeline but good expectation sometimes it brings good news.
But my last question is (do the 67 points illegibility review is accomplished by CIO or by the visa office in London ? I mean as my application is transferred to the VO, does this mean that the application passed the 67 points eligibility)

first time my application was rejected b’cas insufficient documents.fee was returned back to me.then reapplied.now my online status showing IN PROCESS on jan 2012.when wil i expect the result. and i wrote IELTS IN 2009.MY SCORE WAS 5.5.if my file was accepted is thr any personal interview.
please reply me.

1) I am sorry but your English is so poor I can’t even understand which question you asking?

2) If it’s “when will I hear something?” please read the million and one posts I have already made stating that there is no way to predict – there are simply too many factors once an application gets to the visa.

Hi,
Thank you in advance for your kind information regarding the processes of the immigration file.
Please be informed that i applied under FSW2 on Oct,2011, i have received my file number on Jan 5th, 2012, my VO will be London as i live in Kuwait.
My Ecas status showing “In Process”, do you have any idea that, i have to wait for the VO to send me second file number or confirmation letter from London Embassy, or shall i wait for the Medical request?
Do you think my Ecas status is correct as In Process, or, it might changed after a while to received by visa office?
Also, please let me know, my IELTS result will be expired on July 2012, do you think tphat i need new test and result during the file process?
I know i asked a lot, but, i’m sure, you have the full background and you like to help who need helps,
Please give me your feedback,
Thank you,
Hussain from Kuwait,,,

Your IELTS results do not expire in the way that PCCs do. As long as it is valid when CIC first receive it, then the IELTS results never expire.

Files can take a very varied length of time “in process” since the processing of an application varies in complexity from one applicant to another, so there is really no way to predict how long it will be. Could be a few weeks, could be many months.

hi, i just want to ask, i submitted my complete documents to the london office on november 2010. when i check for my status online, it is in process and when i look at the details, it says they received all my documents and is pending review. london office may contact you. —- it’s already february 2012 and nothing seems to have changed….. any comments?

Contact the visa office for an update (you can find a page for an online query on their website).

However, I am guessing if you submitted your documents that you are pre-June-2010 applicant? In which case your application will be dealt with on a low priority basis, so regrettably it could be a while yet before it progresses.

I have sent with the FSW application photocopies of the passports which are not notarized. Will that have an effect on my application? Anyway, we have to produce the original passports at the visa office, so what is the point of having them notarized.

Technically all non-original documents should be notarized. However, I know of people who have sent entire applications with just plain photocopies and been accepted, so it seems largely down to the discretion of the visa officer. When did you send your appplcation? Has it made it to the visa office yet or is it still with CIO?

Hi Wayne,
Actually, I have sent my application and then I asked DHL to return it back to me from Canada. After I read the threads with your recommendations I discovered many mistakes in my package including the passports copies not certified. So, they could return it back before reaching CIC. Now, I am correcting the mistakes and I will send it again soon. The problem is that Visa office in my country Lebanon refer you always to CIC website if you ask them any question. So, we rely on internet and your recommendations to sort it out.

Hi Wayne,
My time line as follows
Applied to CIO Sydney 7th Sept 2011
1st AOR 23rd Jan 2012
ECAS Status jumped to “In Process” on 10th February 2012
Here i would like to know when will i receive my medicle request from visa office London ? Have they reviewed my docs and satisfied with them ?

In my country a notary public can not do a certified true copy. Who else can doit ? Please give me examples for an officer of a court of justice, a magistrate. Can a sworn translator be an officer of a court of justice. Can a lawer do a certified trued copy. I appreciate your advise as I am lost in this part.
Regards,
Fadi

Well it may help if you actually tell me which country you’re from? But I suspect it just varies from country to country. I am fairly certain in most countries lawyers can do certified copies. If in doubt contact the visa office and ask what their requirements are.

Your notes are always steering our movement to the right direction.
I am from Lebanon. All the people mentioned on the CIC guidelines to authorize atrue certfied document refused totally to do it since as they said do not have the right authority to do that. They said , in Lebanon you have to get certificates certified from the origin, and the foreign ministry of affairs should add its stamp at the end.
Examples:
University degree : Stamp from University and then foreign of affairs
Birth certificate, marrigae certificate: No one in Lebanon has original copies of these. All with the government. They only provide a photocopy certified in Arabic ” true copy”. So, we have to certify from ministry of interior and then from foreign ministry of affairs.
Notary public has no power to do that like in Canada or elsewhere in the world. They only certify that a translator signature is true.
So, I have decided to follow the process done in Lebanon.
Your suggestions are appreciated.
regards,

Can you please clarify if 26th June 2010 cutoff date is for the completed application package or for the first time application submission. The reason I am asking is because my deadline to submit the completed application package was July 24th 2010 and I received my second AOR on August 16, 2010. However if the cutoff date of 26th June 2010 is for the first time application then I know where I stand. Can you please confirm the same
Regards,
Antony

Just came across this blog out of anxiety and searching the web for some relief🙂. Must say this is terrfic mate! I am a July 2011 applicant ( FSW MI 3 ). I was in the Philippines since 2009 and mentioned Manila as my VO in my initial application. However, I got transferred to India in November 2011 and notified the Manila vo of the same. Post which everything went as per plan. The process kept going the way it should have and then finally I got my MR , PCC and RPRF request through courier at my India address as that was the postal address mentioned on my application and along with the list of DMPs in the Philippines, it also had the list of DMPs in India. I got my meds done here in New Delhi, India and the DMP used DHL courier which had them shipped out to Manila VO and DHL portal showed recieved by somebody on the 3rd Feb 2012. On the 7th Feb, I had a friend go to the Candian Embassy Manila and drop the remaining documents like RPRF drafts and Police clearnace from Both Manila and India. My Manila Police clearance was obtained on 25th Jan 2012 ( absolutely fresh , no worries there ) , however my India PCCs were dated 26th June 2011. I got those made at the tme of application. Since, I was in Manila at that time, I could not send the India PCCs at that time but have furnished those now. So two questions dear

1. I read somehwere on your blog that PCCs are valid for 1 year. Is that something accepted by CIC as a general rule or is it country dependent. Should I be sending fresh India PCCs or the ones from June 2011 would suffice ?
2. Since my meds are done, being optimistic I am expecting my Passport request soon. I am given to understand that the request comes through email ( so no worries theree ). However since I am in India and as per any country’s laws, the passports cannot be shipped out of the country, I am willing to personally travel to the Phillipines ( have a valid visa until Aug 2012 ) and submit the passports. However, my dilemma is how would I get them back. If they would send it back to India address, I will get stuck there and cannot travel back . Also the Passports run a risk of getting stuck at customs if detected . So sort of a situation here… Do youhave any idea how to deal with this?

1) They are valid for 1 year. BUT generally visa office will only ask for updated PCCs for your current country of residence. PCCs for countries which you have not resided in during the past year, generally they will not need updated PCCs since none of the information has changed. However, this is purely at the discretion of the visa officer processing your application. I would not go to the expense of getting fresh PCCs unless visa office ask for them, or unless you think they will take a long time to get.

2) I believe for applicants in Pakistan and India there is a process whereby you send copies of the passports, and then you can take the original passports to your local embassy for stamping. I believe this is known as a 2-phase passport request – I suggest you make a post on canadavisa.com and ask there for any other Indian/Pakistani applicants to find out what they did in that circumstance. Please also note that many visa offices are now NOT stamping a counterfoil in the passports, since this is being retired, so you may find that they will only ask for copies anyway. But see what they say when you get the passport requests.

One other point, could I (respectfully) please ask you not to post any religious commments on here (I have removed them from your post). I personally am not religious and don’t want this to become a place for people to praise their various deities. I am sure there are plenty of religious forums for that kind of thing🙂

I am claiming 5 points on adaptability based on my wife’s uncle status who is Canadian and living in Canada. I got from him the following:
1 original bill for water with his address, 1 original invoice with his address, a letter of support signed by him, a copy of his CANADA REVENUE tax, and a copy of his Canadian citizenship card.
Question1: Is it necessary to certify the copies of Canadian citizenship card and the Revenue sheet ?
Question 2: Are these papers enough to claim the 5 points? Do I need other papers from him ?

Hi, the documents you have provided are probably sufficient to prove his Canadian citizenship, but you must ALSO prove his relationship to you.

Who is the principal applicant, you or your wife? If you are the principal applicant then your wife’s uncle is not a blood relative and therefore I don’t believe the 5 points will be allocated even if you have provided suitable proof of relationship. If your wife is the principal applicant then the 5 points should be awarded, but only if you have provided sufficient evidence of the relationship between your wife and her uncle.

Many thanks Wayne for your help.
I am the principal applicant. I ahve noticed that in OP-06 ( date 17-06-2011 ) that Uncle is not included in relatives. You are right!
But, in the application form IM 0008 Sched 3, they ask : you or your spouse has a relative ( uncle is there included). Also, it is there on CIC website in the self assessment test.

My application for PR is in process. I’ve received an email from an immigration officer saying that I should submit detailed reference letters from my past and current jobs. Then it says: Please provide the requested documents within 30 days from the date of this letter. At the end of the 30 days period I shall review your application and make a decision on the basis of the information available.
What does this mean? Is it a bad sign? Is it common for immigration officers to ask for more documents before making a decision?

Hi Wayne
I wanted to ask you that my uk pcc starting date is 9th December so is it ok if vo receive it before 9 march also I am in india from last 2 years and never went to uk again. I received my MR and RPRF. So does it mean that backgrounds have been done .

“This is in response to your recent email enquiring about the status of your application.

Please be advised that a decision has been made on the file. A letter informing you of this decision was sent in January 2012.

Please wait for the letter to arrive.”

i got this email from chc london and my e status is DM and snail-mail is reviewed and in process 19th january 2012
what is it mean of this ?? is my file rejected or they will asked for pcc for medical
i am under FSW1 applicant pre june 2010

HI FRIENDS I AM RAJ I APPLIED FOR CANADA PR IMMIGRATION IN DEC 2009. MY STATUS SINCE TODAY WAS RECEIVED BY VISA OFFICE AND THAT THEY TRANSFERRED MY FILE IN LONDON IN 2010 JULY.
TODAY WITHOUT INPROCESS ITS SHOWING DECISION MADE .I AM REALLY CONFUE PLZ IF ANY ONE KNOW ABOUT THIS REPLY ME.

Regrettably decision made without medical requests usually means rejection. Occasionally ECAS is in error, so I would wait for an official communication from your visa office, but I’m afraid it doesn’t look good.

I am sorry I don’t have better news for you. Are you eligible to apply again under the current rules?

hi wayne,
thanx for ur reply because it really gave me a great relief.
and one more thing i wanted to ask u that i have applied under fsw1 as a college teacher with 4 years of continuous experience in 2010.i saw current occupation list and i do not come under this occupation list.now my ECAS status showing IN PROCESS with xtra line WE REVIEWED YOUR APPLICATION AND STARTED PROCESSING ON JAN 23,2010.my query is that

1.my job is not come under current occupation list ,so because of this reason is there chance to reject my application.

hi Wayne, I received PER on the 14th of november, the PER letter stated that my file would now be transferred to Accra visa office for processing. I have not received AOR from Accra VO till date. I only knew they had received my file when I sent a case status enquiry to update my address. I was advised by the VO in their email reply that my address has now been updated on their database. Some applicants with Accra VO did receive AOR from Accra.Do you think it’s wise to send VO an email or case status enquiry to request for AOR.

Hi, are you able to access ECAS yet? To be honest if you know the visa office has your file there is little point in chasing up for an AOR. Just keep an eye on ECAS for your application to go IN PROCESS.

Accra is a particularly slow visa office, though, so you will probably need some patience!🙂

thanks for the reply Wayne. You are doing a great job on here. Yes, I have access to ECAS. it says “in process”, then inside it, it says “we received your application on xx date in august, 2011”. That’s all. I am hopeful it would go to “we started processing” soon. The wait is killing.

I want to apply for FSW very soon, my self assessment me 64 point without counting my wife studying degree (actually she completed three years and half in the university for the Bachelor Degree BA in Computer Science, and completed 12 years full time study at school)…. Shall this situation give me further points???
Thanking you Wayne for helping people…..
Khaled

I have applied to CIO on last August and I got the file number and primary acceptance e.mail on October 2011, yesterday I got the medical forms by mail which was a good surprise for me. The problem I am facing that my wife is outside the country for few months as well as we are expecting a child. My question is, does the medical test has a dead line date before which we should preform the examination and what is the maximum time that we can wait ?? do we have to do the examination urgently or it would be more appropriate if we add the newborn child first ??

Ok, firstly, the medicals can be taken at any DMP in the world, so your wife who is outside the country can take the medicals there if you send her the appropriate forms, she will have to find the nearest CIC-approved DMP.

You will need to inform your visa office that your wife is pregnant. I think you can get an extension for the xray (ONLY the xray, the rest of the medicals must be done within the timeframe) and then get the xray once the baby is born. But at that stage you will need to do medicals for the baby as well as add the baby onto your residency application.

The alternative is that your wife may be able to take the xray whilst pregnant, but please seek proper medical advice for this. I understand they can use some kind of shielding which makes it safe, but I am certainly no doctor!

This would allow you the option, if your visa is granted before the baby of born, of completing your record of landing and having the baby born in Canada, thus the baby would be a Canadian citizen.

So in short
a) Seek medical advice about having xrays whilst pregnant
b) If you decide it is best to delay the xray until after the baby is born you MUST inform the visa office and see what they say, but I think they will say that everything but the xray must be done.

Thanks for your detailed reply, but what is the allowed time frame for the medicals ?? for example if the medicals were issued on February 8, 2012 through the concerned visa office then what would be maximum date by which they should receive back the medicals results?? finally would you be able to write me the e.mail contact of London visa office?? I have tried looking through the website but i couldn’t.

i have applied under noc code 0311(managers in healthcare) in the fsw1 class. under this code my catagery falls as chief dietitian which is mentioned in their sub title.we have checked it on website
they sent me the receiving confirmation .but now there is a letter from canadian embassy as written below
“As per the duties listed on your letter,your experiance appears to fall under noc 3132 diettian and nutritionists and meet the lead statement and duties of that noc.As such i m not satisfied that you are A NOC code 0311 and your application in therefor not eligible to be process.
The processing fee you have paid to be refundable
thank you
visa officer”

i m confused about this becouse 3132 code doesn’t lie under the catagery from which i have applied please show me the right way.

oh wow! seriously??! apologies for the duplicate post but i was really worried and got so anxious. but anyway you said 99.99%… so is there still a slight possibility that i might get rejected?😦 how long does the processing of the visa take? i mean for stamping?

hi mr wayne: this is so helpful blog: my Pr application for skilled worker was received apr 2 2011 by buffalo VO. still in process. waiting for medical? how would i apply for caips or gcms notes: could it expedite processing my application: whats its relevance why applicants have those?

Applying for CAIPS/GCMS notes will not alter the timescales of your application at all. It is just a bunch of codes from the CIC computer system on the status of various elements of your application – only of any use once your application is in process, and you may find out things visa office may ask for slightly earlier.

Myself, I wouldn’t bother and would just wait to hear from the visa office. Getting the notes won’t speeds things up at all.

Hi, great info here!
I received a per in oct 2011 and the file has gone to London for processing. Has anyone Been contacted from London post June 2011 yet? Also when can I email them to ask about the processing of our case? Thanks very much x

hi there i need help! this is my timeline. ( i got job offer, i applied as federal B skilled worker.)
ecase status : in process(it was changed from RBVO to in process on feb 15, 2012 after i sent question email to buffalo visa office. but it didn’t have the additional line on the details of ECAS which something like “We reviewed your application and started processing XYZ” )

We received your application for permanent residence on April 6, 2010.
We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on June 14, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
Your application and supporting documents were received by the Buffalo office. They are pending review.
We transferred your application to the Buffalo office on June 22, 2010. The Buffalo office may contact you.

The below the email is from buffalo visa office……..

Dear Madam / Sir,
Your application is in queue for review. It will be reviewed by June 30, 2012. No further action is required by you at this time.
We thank you for your patience and for keeping your correspondence to a minimum.

Please note that you are responsible for maintaining valid status as long as you remain in Canada. If your residential or mailing address changes, you must notify our office.
For future reference, in all correspondence to our office, please refer to the applicant’s full name, date of birth and file number.

i would like to know what do my ecase status and email i got from visa office means.

I require some assistance on my application submitted. I have been consulted by an immigration consultant in India for our PR, However it has been nearly 9 months since we registered to migrate and we have submitted all documents, we have not yet received a file number nor any other tracking numbers. I am worried if my skilled occupation cap would have been reached . But I spoke to my consultant and they say that the registration time will already reserve a position for us. CAN SOMEONE KINDLY ADVICE AND LET US KNOW WHEN DOES THE ACTUAL PROCESS START ? 🙂

hi sir /madam
i have received medical request and pcc and passport request that u should submit this all things before 16/03/2012 i have finished all this and i submited on 1/03/2012 my ecas shows in process and medical results received i want to ask how long it will take to stamp the visa and my passport back i m from gujarat and my visa office is new delhi can u tell me plz

Ok please DON’T make the same post twice in 2 days. It is often several days between my checking this site. Making multiple posts won’t make me reply any faster, it will just slow things down as there are more posts I have to approve or decline.

Anyway, you have also failed to read my multiple posts saying please don’t ask “How long will it take to get PPR / Medicals ” etc

Please put yourself in my position of having to write out dozens and dozens of times “I don’t know”. There are too many factors, it depends how long your security searches take to come back, which can vary greatly.

Hi Wayne,
I applied as physiotherapist in May 2011 after all the other processes got request for medicals , proof of funds ,RPRF , all old and new passports of all the family members . I did submit these to the agent on 22dec 2011, Last date for these to reach the CHC was 18 jan 2012.It might have reached there before that, as I came to know that the DD for RPRF has been en cashed on 12 jan 2012 .
Getting bit scared because some of my friends who had sumitted after me have already received their visa stamped . moreover the passports of my wife and mine got damaged and its a new passport that has been submitted now but its along with the previous one(damaged)

Hello Wayne,
I applied to CIC/CIO in February 2012 as a FSW using a UCI i received when I applied for a Temporary Visa. I have not received as official response, however I used the UCI # to check ECAS and on the 1st page it says “Permanent Residence Application Status In Process”, If you want to see the details of an application, click on the underlined status. In Process is underlined so I clicked it and this is the result “We received your application for permanent residence on February xxx, 2012. ” When I check what IN PROCESS means I see that there are five (5) other steps prior to that.

My question is, how do I get to “In Process” without getting an e-mail or letter, so is it that I have passed through all the other five (5) stages; APPLICATION RECEIVED—>ELIGIBILITY REVIEW COMPLETE–>RECEIVED BY VISA OFFICE–>VISA OFFICE ELIGIBILITY REVIEW COMPLETE–>WITHDRAWN–>IN PROCESS

Please tell me what is happening here, because I want to know if by happiness is baseless. I applied as a Chef/Cook.
Thanks in advance,
KAR

Hi I sent my file to cic Canada bank draft are clear now but Canada post still show my letter in way to Canada I sent a letter by R Post 4jan i m worry about any thong wrong draft clear by 22feb if ok how much they ll take time and can they send any e mail to confirm my file has reached thx

1.- I would like to ask you if do i have to update my work situation and send an Email to my VO given that i change my position and responsabilities inside my company since december ’cause i’m not sure of this matter and is this gonna delay my processing time?
2.-Do you recomenend to assess our documents for experience and education way before we could arrive over there or just start a couple of months before arriving in canada?
3.-In case that i have to attend to an interview, do they decide at the end of it if i’ll get the PR visa or do i have to wait for more processing things?

Thanks for all your expert comments, You are doing a great job. Kindly let me know how New Delhi Visa Office works, How many months do they usually take once they had asked for the Passports and Right of Permanent Residence Fee. I had sent my passport to them on 14/02/2012. I know its less than a month now, however just wanted to know the approximate time frame to complete the process.

New Delhi works differently to most visa offices in that they ask for passports at the same time as medicals. This means they shave a few weeks off the process, but the downside is that the applicant is without their passports for several months.

I gather the usual timeframe is around 3 months at NDVO, but of course the varies from applicant to applicant.

I would like to consult from you that My file was rejected I knew, but over 3 months and a week I still not yet received a refund. I paid by Credit card. Thank you for your explanation and advice, please.

It can take up to 6 months, so I suggest you wait a while longer. If it gets past 6 months and you have not received a refund, then contact your visa office (or CIO wherever your application was rejected).

Hi,
I would like to know that i have applied PR for Canada and my file is under process as per the online status at sydney office, my wife is pregnant, if officer will ask for medical than she is able to do that or not

Consult the doctor. CIC will allow you to postpone the medicals for your wife until the baby is born, if you wish. In any case you will need to get medicals done for the baby anyway. But if you get medical requests you will still have to get yours done within the timeframe CIC set.

Hi. I am just wondering, Our Documents was received by my VO on late January this year. After getting our 2nd AOR, I updated them regarding our status hence my VO asked for “updated forms, Police clearance and 3pcs passport photos with (for medical) “, We do not have a Medical Request yet. Some of my friends were wondering as Police clearance usually is being asked with the Medical Request and passport photos aren’t asked prior to MR but only asked by the DMP…

Sometimes they ask for updated docs since they want to review them before they proceed to medical requests. Other times the updated forms are a mere formality and if the visa officer has no real concerns they will ask for medical requests at the same time.

Our friends who applied 1 week after us, finally got medical requests 6 months after us (same visa office) and they were asked for updated forms etc, then medical requests some time afterwards. We got asked for both at the same time.

Hi Wayne
I had applied last Year for FSW but CIO rejected it saying that I do have enough points.though I had got my UCI and application num. I have applied again this year.
MY application was recieved by CIO on 7th FEb 2012. .i got letter written mentioned that “Based on a review of the information you have provided, your application has received a positive final determination of eligibility for processing on the basis of work experience in an occupation specified in the Instructions issued by the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism and published in the Canada Gazette on June 26, 2010
it came on 15.07.11 and that YOUR APPLICATION WILL BE FORWADED TO A VISA OFFICE FOR FURTHER PROCESSING. dated 6th March 2012.
My question is when i Log into ECAS on the outside it says IN process and when i click and go inside it says that we have recieved ur file on 7th Februaty 2012.
Can you please explain whats happening now and what will happen next. why this discreppensiases in my ECAs?
thanks Wayne.
Much appreciated.

I have applied under FSW2 category in November-11, I got Positive review letter from CIO in February-2012.
but still my online status shows application received at CIO in November-11. I am from Pakistan.
Would you please share some your knowledge what will be next step & what about time period to complete
review & Medical. Thanks a lot, Hope to hear soon ..:)

I am a newbie here and really wanted to apply for FSW. If for example I failed in my application, will I get a refund for the processing fee? Processing fee is amounting to 550CA $ for the principal and another 550cad$ for the spouse and dependend for 150cad$. So by means it’s a definetinely a betting game right?

Hi Sir,
we had sen our application last oct2011 nova scotia sydney canada,until now we did not recieve any email reagarding the status of the application on our family skilled worker, any idea what is happening it has been 5 months now since. Thanks in advance for the reply🙂

Hi, I have applied in Sept. 2011 and got PER on Jan. 2012 now waiting for MR, here i have two concerns, need to clear with your kind attention

1)I have filed my application without PCC so should i forawrd it now to London VO or wait for their request first ?
2) I have got promotion in my current company so should i share this with VO ? as may be they will make job confirmation with my old job title.

As per ECAS
My application recieved on 13 July 2011
Processing started on 19 Jan 2012
I recieved medical requests on 20 Jan 2012, to submit Medical/PCC/Right of Permanent Fee/Passport before 05 March 2012.
I have submitted the same on 20 Feb 2012 within the time frame

hi wayne,
I have applied with complete application under FSW 1 category 3113 with AEO from india on dec 6th 2011.
my application is Received by CIO nova scotia – 12th dec 2011.
PER issued with file no.by email on 20th feb 2012
2nd AOR from new delhi by email on 15th march 2012
From the beginning, ECAS- showing in process and on further clicking it shows we received ur application for PR on 12 dec2011.
At what date I should expect my Medicals request and others from the visa office?
I am waiting for ur reply..
regards
mani

hi wayne,now I understand the things nd sorry for asking silly questions ,ok what u think about working of ECAS status of mine ? Is it working right ?
should I rely on my ECAS status as previously described because its almost 10 days that I’ve received 2nd AOR but ECAS still showing in process nd received ur application for PR on 12 dec 2011 or it might change in next few days?
I personelly feel that ECAS status is not updating properly but I need ur advise regarding wrong ecas status nd what can I do for same. Should I contact visa office for same ?
thank u very much for helping people
your reply is greatly anticipated.

hi i applied under fsw class in 2 december 2011 with arrangment employment in canada , my application was sent visa office to buffalo in 14 february 2012 , actually iam working with work permit in canada with the same employer , iam waiting for stage processing , do u know how long takes now ? thank you way

I am in Pakistan and my husband has applied through arranged employment. Our application is in Sydney, Nova Scotia and we have submitted some detailed documents a week ago which they asked for. How long does it take for them to send it to London when they are working on our file and how long will the london office take approximately. My husbands IETLS is expiring this October. Should he sit for the IETLS.

Firstly. don’t post exactly the same query on exactly the same page within SIX MINUTES of each other. I have trashed one of your duplicate queries.
Secondly I am sorry if it takes a few days to reply to queries. I have been on business in Detroit and have only just returned home 30 minutes ago. I will answer all the queries but posting even more queries saying “please answer my query” is only going to slow things down.

My ecas shows as below- In Process:-
We received your application for permanent residence on May 20, 2011.

We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on July 13, 2011. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

Your application was reviewed and we started processing on November 28, 2011.

Medical results have been received.

I had submitted my medicals, passports and proof of funds and landing fee DD to the agent on 21Dec 2011 ,the DD was encashed on 12 Jan 2012 (information from bank) but now news till today its more than 3 months after subitting all the above. VO : New Delhi

wayne it looks like , u r no more intrested to reply any query . ur way of reply are very rude. Mani might not have read the full post of early regd. timelines then if u dont wanna answer simply cut and paste the reply …..i am sorry but in my case decision has been made before medicals but we have recd. letter today of medical request and current salary slip from my present job. u said its a rejection…… but i will thanks to u also for early replies….

I send a few questions in the past month but i don’t see you replying them, but i do see all the questions around mine to be aswered, i don’t know the reason but i kindly ask you to say something about them cause i have the doubt and that’s why i ask you in the first place

I have read many post and reviews, this one has been very informative. We had sent our application to nova scotia and received confirmation from the courier that it had arrived at the offices of cic on the 1 st march, payment was deducted on the 15 th march, is this a good thing? And still waiting for further confirmation via email, but we are positive.

i got my CEC PR application rejected. the reason they told me is “I am not satisfied that you meet the skilled work experience requirement. the list of duties contained in the letter of reference from your employer is not described in the list of duties contained under NOC 1221. Furthermore, when we attempted to contact your employer, we were told that another person was the office administrator for the company and that person had done over so far over a year.“
this is the exact wording of the visa officer. what are my options now???
can i re-apply?? or can i make any appeal???
please advice

hi sir this is bhumit i sent before 1 month my passport pcc and medical as well and ecas showing in process by clicking it shows medical result have been received i want to know that how much time will take to stamping visa and back my passport?

Dear Mr. Wayne, I have applied under FSW2. Visa Office: London, My application was received at NS on 15 July 2011. I got PER on 14 October 2011. In eCAS, under In Process it is mentioned only one line … received your application on 15 July 2011. Furthermore, since 30 January 2012, my address is not appearing in eCAS. I believe next step is MR.
As I understood from various posts that within this time in eCAS it should appear comments like rcvd by visa office or we will start process on .. (date).
Do you think my case status is normal?
Please let me know your judgement on my case.

In addition, I mentioned visa office as London (present residence Qatar) in my application. But in PER it was written “Your application will be forwarded to a visa office for further processing.” Actually, I am not sure about my visa office.

I applied for PR and my status just change to “In Process” last February 28, 2012. My visa office is in manila. Until now, I’m still waiting for a medical request. I’m just wondering how many weeks it usually takes before I could receive a letter for medical since it’s already a month today.

My FSW application was received by CIO SYDNEY on 09.11.2011. Still i didn’t get confirmation letter or email from CIO office. My application fee will be expiry on 21.04.2012. In this case what can i do.

I applied for PR under FSW-Arranged employement in April 2011. I was in Toronto at the time of applying and i had submitted all the relevant documents plus the confirmed job offer from the company with whome i was working with at that point of time. I resigned my job and left Canada in July 2011 and moved back to my native country and joined a different organisation.

Since, i have resigned, is my job offer letter valid anymore? I checked with my immigration attorney and did not get any positive answer. Also, i wished to update my current status to CIC, but my attorney informs me, that unless CIC asks for it I don’t have to update.

As of now, the current status (Since jan 03, 2012) as per the CIC site is ‘Received by Visa Office’.
Pls, advise me whether i stand any chance of getting a PR.

will you please tell me how much time it take to get medical from the time you get the reviews that your processing has started.
my case is of AEO in canada.my job got approval from hrsdc may 2011.i applied for PR on behaf of AE.I am from INDIA and my file has been transferred to NEW DELHI.

NOW the details as per my case are

We received your application for permanent residence on July 25, 2011.

We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on October 24, 2011. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

Your application was reviewed and we started processing on February 8, 2012.

please guide me regarding the further proceedings.and please do tell me how much time will it take to get PR from nowonwards.

We have applied for immigration under FSW. our application is still in Nova Scotia. Does being pregnant or having a kid delay the process. Please also explain what would be different in the process after that.

When the child is born, and after your application has passed CIO eligibility review and has been sent to the visa office, then you can write to the visa office and ask for the forms to add your child onto the application.

When your application reaches medicals stages, the child will also need a medical.

Hi Wayne Can you help me there is a cap now for the skilled worker category that gets renewed yearly in 1 July if I understand matters correctly is that right or we need for the website to say the cap is now open? So when should I courrier my package to arrive on time and get to be part of that cap any idea? Thanks a lot

i have sent my complete application to centralized intake office with letter of approval but my letter of approval attached to my documents is a photocopy but notarized by a lawyer will they accept the application submitted to them or return it back to me the expiration of my letter of approval is july 2012

hello wayne, i wanted to ask you, in general when they send the passprt request where do we have to send them? i’m confused because i am from lebanon my file (FSW) was in damascus and after the closure it was transfered to ankara. i received the email from ankara yesterday requesting the passports and other documents but they made a mistake, they thought i was a resident of iran, but everything else in the mail was correct. they asked me to send the passports to the embassy in tehran via commercial courrier. please if you can advise me what to do .
thank you.

wow, this post is really good. thanks wayne.. after reading some of the posts and your replies, i don’t need to ask for our situation because i already read the answers that i need. thank you. God bless you

hi sir this is bhumit i sent before 1 month my passport pcc and medical as well and ecas showing in process by clicking it shows medical result have been received i want to know that how much time will take to stamping visa and back my passport?

**Religious comment removed by Wayne** .some changes are going to take place with regard to the skilled workers immigration…pls see the wording of Minister Kenney in an Interview …and share your views

Minister Kenney gave the Globe & Mail a peek into the new points system and, in so doing, revealed that he intends to push further down the processing stream those applications which were filed before the yet-to-be-released new points system. The article did not say whether he intends to apply the new selection criteria retrospectively on applicants who had applied before he imposed the new criteria. The key paragraphs read:

[…] Mr. Kenney said in an interview Wednesday that he wants to create a new economic stream for trades people, who currently don’t qualify under Canada’s education-focused federal skilled worker program.

He also said employers will soon be able to hand-pick prospective immigrants and send them to the front of the line for assessment.

“Once people have been identified by employers, if they meet our other standards we would fast-track them into the country,” Mr. Kenney said. […]

The first of these changes will be introduced over the next few months. Ability in English or French […] will become more important under the new system. In future, professionals in language intensive fields, such as doctors and lawyers, will have to be fluent in an official language, Mr. Kenney said. That’s a significant shift from Canada’s current system, which rewards language ability but doesn’t set such a high benchmark. At the same time, Mr. Kenney said he wants a flexible language grid, so that applicants in fields that don’t require a high level of fluency aren’t automatically excluded.

Mr. Kenney also said he’ll be considering a pre-assessment system, as they have in Australia, that evaluates the credentials of skilled professionals before they immigrate to see whether they will qualify to work in Canada.

What is happening to the applications received at CIC just after the Cap limit reached for listed Occupations, as i m not sure whether my application is reached before the cap limit. Are they sending them back to the applicants straight away ? I hv applied last month.

My Application Process is In-Process since Feb 24th 2012. Received a Letter from London HC requiring additional documents such as Updated PC, New Forms and RPRF and recent photo of my child. They also returned my Original Documents.

I havent received MR though. I have send all docs and Fees on 2nd April. Please advice on duration and status?

Dear Sir,
I applied for FSW visa Of CANADA .Someday later i got my all documents back because i submitted Ielts Test of Academic rather Then General and they also gave me UCI Number .My Question is I again sent my all documents with general Ielts Test to CIC office Sydney No via Scotia Canada Office i want to know now how much time will take for further processing .They already mentioned UCI Number But I would like to want more…..

hello Mr Wayne..!!
here is my ecas as under…………..
*************************************************************************************************************************
*We received your application for permanent residence on March 19, 2010.
*We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on May 14, 2010. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
*Your application and supporting documents were received by the Buffalo office. They are pending review.
*We transferred your application to the Buffalo office on May 18, 2010. The Buffalo office may contact you.
*Your application was reviewed and we started processing on December 1, 2011…
**************************************************************************************************************************
and ever since this date i have not got any news from vo. and 25 months are going to over on coming 19 march12.
so, can you suggest me some thing that what needs to be done or how much more i need to wait ??

your answer will be appreciated if you can help me something in this case.
Thanks and regards

hi wayne,
First of all thanks alot for your great work. It happen as you told before,i got my application back due to cap reached. I am planning to apply again in the coming july. But there are lots of possibilities to change rule. Can you suggest what may be the key factors that is going to change so that i can make preparation from now? If there are other links beside CIC,please can you provide. Hope for your help!

hi wayne..
thanks for answer me back
i have question for same my case …currently there is no activity running by vo…
so,what if i get job offer latter from canadian employer.. .will the initional job latter will make any difference in processing speed..?

Hello wayne,
My ECAs states decsion made and the CIC asked for our passports,does it mean they will have it for stmping already? After decision made will the ECAS still change? Or that is it.And usully how long will it take for our passports to return? VO:london and we are here in kuwait. Tnx wayne

My Application Process is In-Process since Feb 29th 2012. Received a Letter from London HC requiring additional documents such as Updated PC, New Forms and RPRF and recent photo of all family member. They also returned my Original Documents. which they asked me one month ago

I havent received MR though. do think they aproved my case because they asked me to send right of landing fees

Dear,
Don’t believe wwics. They have their office in Kuwait, who ever asking them for AEO, they are asking for $15000, with huge promises about brightness future with wwics. They will take 50% in advance and never never ou will receive anything rom them niether AEO nor file process, as they made the sae with me, they took all the fees in advance by giving me Golden Membership and then no service, no file, no feedback and not even a cent from the KD 900 which i paid in advance.

Dear
I had an experience with WWICS.
They charged all the fees in advance and neither got service nor immigrate to Canada.
Because of their bad service, i lost my chance and my file has been cancelled, and they didn’t pay me single penny of my mobey.
For your information

hi, don’t trust WWICS , they will only concern with their $, not with the promises they had made at the time of signing the contract . they had cheated me twice. you wil realize just waste of time n $. If they can’t provide u visa, they wil just say u sorry but wont refund ur $.

I received mail from CIC asking for original PCCs. I have to get PCC from 3 countries India, Cameroon and US. I had already submitted them with completed application forms. Since this process of getting PCCs will take more time than CIC’s deadline, would like to know if I can send CIC mail to extend the deadline and do I have to mention the deadline myself or they will set it. Your help is much appreciated.

Hi, My online status shows from last week of Dec 2011- We received your application for permanent residence on May 21, 2010. We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on October 5, 2010. Please consider delays in
mail delivery before contacting us. Your application and supporting documents were received by the New Delhi office. They are
pending review. Sir can u please tell me how much time it will be taken for next step.

Hi Guys,
I applied for PR on Jan 11th in canada by my husband… on feb 25 th , i got a letter that my application has reached Delhi for further processing.. later in few days i got a mail stating to send passports to delhi immigration.. i was really happy on seeing it as the process seems to be fast… & i send passports on march 15 2012… on april 16 the status changed to ON PROCESS .. & on 17th its mentioned that …

We received your application for permanent residence on January 11, 2012.

pls reply to my email address . from ur note I understand that you are a spouse going to canada on ur husband’s sponsorship. did u need to show 67 points? ur education qualification? ur job offer? adapbility? IELTS? is ur husband a PR holder or a citizen of Canda?

hello sir, i applied in ns 0n 13 january 2012,on 22 march i recived file number so how much time chc new delhi takes to ask for medical request and passport. i have been applied under pnp case. thanking you.

It basically suggests that the new guidelines for FSW applicants about to be released would have a new point system, with emphasis on younger applicants, with high education credentials, and very high reading and writing skills in English. They must also be in NOCs that are in great demand, meaning they can get a job immediately…

Here is my concern, the news release states:

“change would allow new regulations, once approved, to apply retrospectively to people who have already submitted an application. ”

This would mean that the new point system and its requirements would apply to all those who have submitted applications in previous years as well, in effect thousands of applications will be denied because they would not qualify. Only the few, with the above mentioned qualifications, will get through.

Dear Mr. Wayne, Hope you are fine with good health.
We are aware about the recent news on FSW immigration system. At first, pre Feb 2008 applicants then the proposed new rule, by which existing applicants also can be effected.
Beside that, I understood that since mid-March ’12 no MR issued, specially from SVO and LVO (through surfing various immigration forum). No idea what the visa offices are doing these days.
This is a critical time for us and we like to hear your experienced comments on the overall situation.
With regards,
Ibrahim

Hi my name is Riya Singh…we have nominated in alberta through ainp on 17th dec 2011..they want us to sub,it ou rapplication with processin fee to sydney novascotia..we sent them on 14th of feb 2012..n they got on 17th feb 2012.then we got information that they have taken our payment via credit card on 6th of march 2012..we got reply of per 13th feb2012.n our file received by delhi visa office on 17th feb2012…n our online status was file received.then we got another email fr delhi visa office on 10th april2012,in which they written that “we have received ur file on 17th n u ll hear fr us regarding d result of ur evaluation within 6months due to high volume of inquiries received in dis office.we ll not b able to respond inquiries sent within 6months..”
My question is that how much time it will take to process our case…is it will take only 6months or they will proceed after 6motnhs..i m very much confused..somone help me plyz thank u so much
Reply

hello! i am from bangladesh.i applied for federal skilled worker visa on 28th march 2011.on 26th april 2011 CIO send me the email.they send me positive final result. on 09 june 2011 they send me a latter.after a long time i did not get anything from the visa office.my visa office is Singapure.now i am too much worried about my files.so can u give me any idea about my file.how long it will take?

We applied under FSW with arranged employment but due to lack of details in the experience letters the application was rejected. We have again applied with proper documents with details and all. In addition my employer has also sent a letter stating the problems he is facing and loss he is incurring due to the delays in the process.
Will this letter be of any help or will accelerate the process. in addition do they take longer to consider a prior rejected application.

Hi! I want to know how much time takes when application transfered from cio office to delhi embassy and will they email me or post anything at my home address i already got email from cio office canada of positive response ..just littilebit worry can anybody do me favar for this matter and how can i check my status even i have application number but it shown nothing ……

hey Methew,,same here i even wanna know the timeline of delhi visa office..n let me tell u acc to my process they will email u .coz i have got emails from them..if u have specified..there if u havent then they will send u mail …n my status start showin over site right after 3 days fr the PER fr nova scotia..bt why not urs yet..look fill up the correct indotmation of applicant n try again..it should display ..there…MR wayen..plyz help me out to knw..thanx n bye

hello sir
i need ur advice & senior opinion as well on things which make me crazy/lazy!! Why this Ecase online message can’t provide me any thing except we unable to provide your status… blabla..
I have submitted full document on Dec./2010. And unable to trace my ecase i don’t why!
Please give me ur opinion if their will be rejection , why NVo waiting so long until end of June?
i send them twice CSE but nothing respond .
What shall i do ?? this waiting killing me like breathing non oxygen air!!
regard

We received your application for permanent residence on April 28, 2010. We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on March 12, 2012. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us. Your application was reviewed and we started processing on March 12, 2012.

I am a pre June 2010 applicant. On April 27, 2012 I received a leter from my local visa office requesting that I submit updated application form, updated proof of funds, updated schedule 1 now schedule A (Background Information), police record, medical pay right of permanent residence fee within 60 days. I need to know the following:

1. Am I required to submit all employment reference and transcripts previously sent to support Schedule 1/A or am I just required to submit the
supports where there has been a change in in my employment and education?

2. If I ceased working permanently last september because I embarked on an online MBA but have done special assignment for companies on a
needs basis between Jan and march of 2012, will this adversely impact me considering the 1 year rule of employment?

3. Because of the short duration and nature of the assignment contract, the employer refuses to give a letter to confirm employment histor Can the
contract letter and pay stubs be used as support?

Dear Sir/Madam
please be informed that i applied my file to Cic on 15th October 2011 and got my Per on 5th Jan 2012 and since then my Ecas is showing In Process.
So, when do you think i will receive my Medical?

Hi all…firstly i applied before June 2011 under fast track skilled federal case..but did not receive any letter till january 2012 of acceptance of documents or such like that…after inquiry we come to know that some forms are changed and we have to fill those up along with new pcc and funds update and sumbit again…we sumbit again in feb 2012…but still i am waiting for any letter of receiving documents or mails from CIC…how much time i will take now a days to file number…

Hi.. I am a pre-june 2010 applicant, my e-case status changed to “In process” today and a new line was added as Your application was reviewed and we started processing your application on xyz date. My question is whether my eligibility review (points) was completed? or will they start reviewing my eligibility at this point?

I underwent medicals in September 2010, and sent my passport to CHC, New Delhi in October. In March 2011, I was asked to submit my original education certificates. Since then there has been no response from CHC. My representative says that CHC did not respond to reminders sent to CHC. My e-cas shows in process. Please tell me how I should get information regarding my current case status. Should I go for caips?

hello everyone..i have applied under fast track..skilled workers visa…I send my application on 2 march 2012 and the application has been received by them on 7th march..On 8th of march they updated their website status stating that under the category which i have applied pr,seats have been filled.Till now no response has been received,what should i expect??it would be no fr sure?

hello again..as told earlier..i have applied under fast track..skilled workers visa…I send my application on 2 march 2012 and the application has been received by them on 7th march..On 8th of march they updated their website status stating that under the category which i have applied pr,seats have been filled.And Today as on 6th june 2012 i get it checked..the DD i send, has also still not cashed…so it wud be NO fr sure????????

Clearance of DD does not matter and is not linked with acceptance or rejection .Because our DD expires after 3 months and their reviewing may take more than 3 months. In that case delhi visa office can ask you for another DD.

finally i got my medical done..n i haev sent my fee to delhi visa office along with our passports..n i have alos sent one doucments asked by them to hongkong..now i m waitin for magical stickers over our passports..can anybody tell me that after sendin the passport how much time delhi visa office take to finialize the desicion

My ecas status says We received your application for permanent
residence on October 20, 2011.
Medical results have been received.
Interview scheduled for June 12, 2012
And we have gone for the interview but the visa officer says she would call as back to know the final decision I want to know how long this would take any help?

hi sir wayne can u help me regarding my application they already approved my application as a provincial nomination in saskatchewan but they returned my docs due to declined of credit card because i input a 1 wrong number thats why they returned my docs question am i going to change all the docs even they put already my file number on top of it or i will only change the form of Fee payment form and put the correct card number. please do help me and understand the letter they attached ” the regulation 10 of section 11 and 12 did not meet the requirements of IRPA. thank you very much for the help and GOD BLESS.

My application was refused for over 6 months and
I have taken your advice that after that 6 months I wrote to CIC and consult about the Refund enquiry.
Today I received a response from them that:

Please be advised that your application was assessed and it was determined that the application met ministerial instructions. It was placed into processing and failed on selection due to insufficient points; therefore, no refund will be issued.

So not every case The CIC will refund to the applicant ( my case here). No hope for me re: Refund, right?

We received your application for permanent residence on March 31, 2011.
We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on May 3, 2011. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
Your application was reviewed and we started processing on November 14, 2011.

I want to know that “Is there any Canadian immigration catagory ( Federal/Quibec) by which if i apply i can take my parents and one of my mentally retired sister with me along with my family?” Because my parents and my sister are depend on me. There is nobody to take care of them. So i cannot leave them.

hey everyone…i have applied under skilled worker in march…after waiting fr 3 months …i mailed them regarding my application status and the replied that their cap was full so my application has been rejected…i was thinking of applying again as their new list issued around june end -july stating…but came to know that they have stopped intake and the list will be revised next year?do anyone know in detail that when will they start it again?and if they reject my application as their cap has reached its limit they store my info or data?or they r returning my file as it is?

Is there a second line in your ecas” we started processing ur application on DD/MM/YY.? If so yo can expect the MR soon .
If the second line is not in ur ecas , that means ur Background checks not completed . Once your BGC is completed u can see an addition line stating that they started processing your application.

Dear sir i have applied for FSW 2 in september 2011, i got my PER on 18.12.2011, after 2 weeks my ecas apear, in process “We received your application for permanent residence on September 21, 2011” than after almost 6 months, additional line has been apear on 17.06.2012 stating that “We started processing your application on June 14, 2012” , accordingly when i can expect my Medical request?

I am applicant under FSW my application received by CIC on 2/sep/2011 . I received the PER on December 1st 2011 which mentioned that (Your application will be forwarded to a visa office for further processing . I sent the update of my new baby born on 5/December/2011 to London VO . till date(almost 10 months past) and I didn’t received any mail from London VO, my E-case shown in process since that time with under line (Based on review of your complete application package, it has been determined that your application is eligible for processing .Processing has begun).with out mentioned for any date of starting the processing

Please advice is there any think i can do at this time or to be more patient only .

SIR
I SUBMITTED MY APPLICATION ON 30TH MAY 2011— CIO.
POSITIVE ELIGIBILITY REVIEWED BY CIO ON 27TH JULY 2011AND TRANSFERRED THE FILE TO LVO.
RECEIVED BY VISA OFFICE IN AUGUST 2011.
ECAS Status shows in process SINCE 1 MONTH
Inside the status 3rd line added that application was reviewed and we started processing on june 14 2012. So what will be the next step.
MEDICAL?

Hi all…firstly i applied before June 2011 under FSW but did not receive any letter till january 2012 of acceptance of documents or such like that…after inquiry we come to know that some forms are changed and we have to fill those up along with new pcc and funds update and sumbit again…we sumbitted papers again in feb 2012…but still i am waiting for any letter of receiving documents or mails from CIC…how much time i will take now a days to get file number…

Hello, I am nurse. I have 20 year Experience. At present my file is New Delhi canada Consulate. I am waiting for medical. I got one letter from New Delhi 13th January 2011. they are in mention, just wait for medical,9 month, still 18 month is finish, how many I want to wait for medical. When Shell get the medical.? my file is con-tune or what. pl give teponce.

Don’t worry you will get medical soon , from what I can read from your message you will not only get a nurse job in Canada , you will barely get emplyee as a Janitor at Local clinic or at Vancouver zoo .
No wonder the government tightening the door to stop trash from immigrating who barely know English ( ie you) .
Am wondering how many Roti Partas it costed you to hard earn this nursing paper from great India ?

We should avoid such type of discoraging remarks. One should give credit that nurses from our society are showing so much courage now a days.. They always go through very difficult times in our part of the world. Varsha has spent 20 years in this field. She has served her nation for 20 years which I think is enough. If she now wants to immigrate to Canda , than our prayers are with Her and we wish her best of Luck.
Dr Khan, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Hmmmm you are right Mr Khan, iv seen many Nurse’s serving … its a tough job…
i wish Varsha will get a chance soon, As far as my knowledge is concerned… i dont think
so there will be much delay Varsha. as for the current year The FSW has been freezed just to
process the applications which are due.. so i hope you should get a good news soon. don worry
all the best🙂

Am waiting for PPR for more than 6 months now….after medicals on 27/12/2011.
*******
Below is my case timeline:
– We received your application for permanent residence on September 29, 2010.
-We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on January 31, 2011 ****************. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us. If we have sent the letter to the wrong address, please contact us.
– Your application was reviewed and we started processing on August 9, 2011.
– Medical results have been received.
*********

My Medicals were done on 27th December’2011 and RPRF FEES/MEDICALS were received by COC-London on 7th Januray2012. and later the line “Medical results have been received. ” was added in Febuary 2012.

Am still waiting for Passport request. It is more than 6 months now…I have applied thru consultant,,they say reminder is sent but CIC is not responding….

Please advise the way ahead.>?
– Should I contact CIC directly….?
– or I should wait for my consultant response.?
– Or and any chances for coming before expiry …

Hello, Sir, Thanks for Reply. I have pass the Ielts Exam, cgfns exam, Nclex exam, and when shell get medical then I will try with cno, and when I will come in canada, I will give exam for crpn or crne. I request you, pl. tel me which is necessary exam for Registrar Nurses canada? I have R.N. R.M. Education. Its 3.5 year course. Still nurses vacancy in canada or not? where is the big demand for nurses in canada state.? Pl. give Reply in my mail.

I applied for PR under PNP program in New Delhi Visa office,and they transferred my file to Hong kong Visa office for processing, i got the medical and Passport request from the HKVO , i done with medical and submitted the passport to NDVO
My ecas shows :
We received your PR application on 17th February 2012
We started processing your application 21st may 2012
Medical results have been received(29th June 2012)

have any idea now whats going on ,why visa office took long time to stamp a visa ?

hey i have apply for fedreal skilled worker my file come in process on 1 may 2012 and on 2 may i got email from embasst that they need pcc and other documents so i send them the requested documents. So colud u tell me how long it take to recieve the medicle after i sent the documents to embassy and is there is any chances that i will get an interview call from them
thank u

i aplly for fsw my file is in process and they requet me some documents like pcc, marriage questinnare and i already sent this documents to embassy so how long it will take to get medicle once your file is in process and is there any chances that i will get an interviw call

Hi, I Have Applyied for Permanent Residence Under FSW Programme With “AEO Approvel letter” in Dec 2011. At March 28 2012 I recieved a letter from Department(sydney nova soctia) with My File No, Reciept of Payment taken and say’s that >Your application will be forwarded to a visa office for further processing. After that I checked My status regular on CIC website. After 2 Month’s My Address was updated on website. Currently, It say’s “In Process” when I cliked In Process it say’s we have recieved your application of permanent residence on 15 March 2012. Nothing is updated after that. Can Somebody Pls.Pls tell me what is current stage of my application And what will be next happening And how Much time does it takes to get my Medical request..My visa office is sydney Australia…I will Wait for the answer from you guys’s.Please help me to understand as I m deadly waiting for it. Before My Permanent APllication I wait for 1 year to get my AEO Approved Now Again Waiting. I will be very Thankful.
Regards,
JAstinder

I applied under Skilled Category in March 2012 and got the mail of acceptance of my application in the same month. In mid july, an officer called at my previous employer’s and as per the answering guy, he did not look quite satisfied.. The guy who answered the inquiry was a bit weak in English and just could not understand exactly what was asked. I am worried as all my documents are ok and authentic there is not even a 0.1% chance of them being untrue. I am worried as there has been no call to me for inquiry if they were unsatisfied as per the guy who answered them.. It has been almost 25 days now, no medical request and no further inquiry to any other place that i have worked nor the bank, its all very tense …. do u guys have any idea about this situation ?

Dear Sir/MAM. i would like to know i submitted my completion of the Immigration medical examination , Right of Permanent Residence fee and also submitted my Orginal Certificate to delhi office on 30 july 2012 . and i want to know how much time will be taken by embassy to sent back my passport at my home with visa stamp…If anybody know the adject time please reply .i applied for federal skilled worker visa.

We received your application for permanent residence on March 31, 2011.
We reviewed your application and sent you a letter on May 3, 2011. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
Your application was reviewed and we started processing on November 14, 2011.

Hi. I’ve applied for Quebec skills worker and after getting my CSQ from Paris Visa Office, i received 2 emails, the first one from CIO office on June 18, 2012 stating that my application is considered complete, they acknowledge receipt of the payment and sending the file to the VO, and the second one stating application for permanent residence in Canada has been received by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on 2012/05/09, signed by Paris VO. for the past 3 months nothing and my status on the ECAS is just application received! I’m confused about the process timeline after CSQ what should i expect next, will they re-review my file again even though i did an interview and they already checked all documents at the VO? when should i receive the Medical request.
Thank you in advance for your reply?

Dear Wayne
I apply under AINP to CIC on May 2012 at sydeny (NS) and In June 26, I get a medical request from Ottawa office and on 7th July Medical has been done from my side but till today ECAS stutas is APPLICATION RECEIVED so please How long will take for PR ?

I am due to get my permanent residency visa under Family stream in MPNP soon, I am residing in Australia now and applied for PNP from here as well. I am planning to leave australia and go to India(my home country) after getting my canadian visa and going to canada from India. Am i allowed to do it or do i have to take flight to canada from australia only ?
Your reply will be much more appreciated.

Dear Wayne
i am Parth from india. i have apply under FSW in November 2011 and waiting for AOE letter from HRSDC, can u tell me meaning of ER ID, and file number. can i check my status of application online., kindly reply to my post and send useful links to pk8805@gmail.com

Bhai do email CIC London Office for the MR update. I did email them and was told that MR was send 2 months back through nomal snail mail. I never received it but they were kind enough to send the MR (2nd Request) again via courier. Chargered on me though.

Do email them on Monday at 1100 Hrs. Hopefully you will receive a reply same day. I did too.

hi,
after submitting passport,landing fees , all the required docs. along with medical reports everything but instead of stamping immigration visa, I have been asked to appeal further……we have made an appeal and the court judgement recd. positive from canada…now how long the CHC New Delhi will take time for the stamping of immigration visa on our passport…pl. inform…..sandy

hi
i have applied my case pre 2010 and now it was in under process from 28 may 2012. i want to know now how much time i will wait for medical.now much more time we will wait for our MR
plssssssss frnd sugeest me any thing else

Very informative.
Thanx for that
I have got my file number & tr status now is “in process”. How much time does it take to go for the medicals? It’s been 7 months since I got file number. My visa office is new Delhi.

People mostly buy i – Phone 3gs cases in UK for protecting their i – Phone and also to
make a style statement. These include the prohibitively high cost of installing phone lines,
especially when the terrain is rugged and people are widely scattered, and the long installation times.
Without physically getting a hold of their cell phone, you can
view their SMS, contact list, internet browsing history and even the correspondence done over emails and instant
messaging such as G Talk or Black – Berry messenger.
1%. We could change the appearance of our mobiles at will, and we could also bring our talents into play on decorating our mobile phones at the same time.

hi
i have applied my case pre 2010 and now it was in under process from 28 may 2012. i want to know now how much time i will wait for medical.now much more time we will wait for our MR
plssssssss frnd sugeest me any thing else and 2013 year is start now how much

Hello
Thanks in advance for your valuable information and support.
I am applicant under FSW. My application received by CIC on 2/sep/2011. I received the PER on December 1st 2011 which mentioned that (Your application will be forwarded to a visa office for further processing. Till date(almost 16 months past) I didn’t received any mail from London VO, my E-case shown in process since that time (Based on review of your complete application package, it has been determined that your application is eligible for processing .Processing has begun). And while in the CIC site they had mentioned processing time for our case it will take 17 months to complete all process.

Kindly advice whether there are any roles leading for this delaying or its normal process and we should wait only .can we do any think at this stage.

I need an advice from all the experienced friends on the blog, i have submitted my PNP application to CIO in November and was received on 8th November, since then neither i received AOR nor my application back. how can i get any update, pl advice me as i need help.

how much time they take to send AOR after PER? it is presumed 2-4 weeks . so it takes this time period or more? as i heard that some people didnt got yet AOR from visa office neither status has been changed.?

Hi,I applied last June 2011 for permanent residency under provincial nomination in Saskatchewan.they start processing it by November 2011. Every time I check my status online,it says there that it is still in process.base on their website,it only takes maximum of 18 months to process it but it is already 20 months and haven’t receive the results.what could be the problem here?please help me.

Hi, I applied in August 2011 & got first response with a temporary file number on 21st Sept 2011. After almost a year long wait on 1st October 2012, my application was approved & I got a request for documents submission. I also deposited the visa fees $ 2380 for visa of family of four. Now I am waiting for my medical examination or further response. Why is my application taking so long? What’s the next step now? Please guide me.
Thanks.

Hi, PLs Anybody Can reply me…
I applyied under Skilled worker programme from Australia to Canada in Dec 2011 with Arrange Employment letter. I Recieved My First letter from department on 25 March 2012 “it say that They recieved my application on March 2012 and it also have my file No,My file send for futher processing…..Now My online status says “IN Process” when i click “in Process” it says that…we have recieved your file on March 2012…..and My address is also showing near “in Process”….Now it’s 13th month starts there is nothing showing only In Process..Myfriends are saying Now thay will send me medical……Pls Inform Me the process If Anybody knew…I m in So tenssion…I will be thnakful to Yoy from my heart

pls. help me i need answer my sister receive a refusal letter from the canadian embassy for not responding the lmedical exam letter they sent but the truth she did not received any medical letter. now my sister send letter of explanation that she did not recieved any of those medical exam. can you think they will reconsider my sister and have a positive answer in embassy?

Hi, not receiving medical instructions is a tricky one. Honestly I would prefer they at least sent an email so that the applicant knows to be expecting instructions. As it stands if the medical instructions (which are usually sent by plain, non-registered post) goes missing the applicant will probably not even know they were sent them.

My advice is to try to contact the visa office by fax (which often gets the best response since it is faster than postal mail and more difficult to delete or ignore than an email).

VERY clearly state all information (file number, address, NOC, applicant name as much as you can) and then VERY clearly state that you did not receive any medical instructions at all, so you had no way to respond to them. Request that in the interests of procedural fairness they re-open the case and send the medical instructions and that you will act on these immediately once received.

CIC’s policy of not sending this stuff by registered mail I think is unfair and can have catastrophic effects on applicants should anything go astray.

My wife has applied under FSW (NOC 2471) which opened on 4th May 2013 (Saturday). I had sent my complete application via post and it reached there on 8th May (Wednesday). Now this year they opened only 300 candidates per NOC with overall limit of 5000. We applied from New Delhi with complete application forms, bankers draft, education credentials, PCC, IELTS, job details, birth certificates, identify proofs etc (let me know if you need additional details).

My question is around the timelines – with your experience, can you please suggest if I had submitted the application in time and what are the chances it will be within first 300 for that NOC? Also, what is expected complete processing time this year?

Your prompt reply will be appreciated.

by the way – this is fantastic blog – keep it updated.. Good job done!

There is no noc 2471 in the occupation list so I assume you mean either 2174 or 2147?

I’d suggest you take a look here, which is a list of forum members on Canadavisa.com who are sharing their information and timelines. Please bear in mind that these applicants represents only a small % of the worldwide total:

If you want my guess, given that many applicants had to get their credentials validated before applying, that an application reaching there on May 8th would fall within the cap. Especially since this is only the 3rd working day after the doors opened.

Hi and thanks for this.my question is that is it possible for someone who has work experience in a profession that is on the eligible list but did not study that course in university to immigrate.for example,my Fiance studied civil engineering but has been working in the bank for the past 6years,and has had only one year of experience about 5years ago in engineering field.and now there is Financial analysts and investors which he happens to be on the 2013 list.will he be able to immigrate under this financial and immigration job despite the fact that his BSc is Civil engineering.looking forward to your reply.thank you

If the occupation is not a regulated occupation, then you do not need specific qualifications in order to be eligible to apply- merely to be able to prove you have work experience which matches a substantial amount of the NOC duties.

An example of regulated occupations might be community pharmacy (where a specific pharmacy undergraduate degree is required), or teaching.

For a financial analyst you will have to do some research but I would guess this is not regulated at that level and therefore no specific qualifications will be necessary.

Best to check the NOC description on the HRDSC website it may tell you there if specific qualifications are required.

Hello
Thanks in advance for your valuable information and support.
I am applicant under FSW. My application received by CIC on 2/sep/2011. I received the PER on December 1st 2011 which mentioned that (Your application will be forwarded to a visa office for further processing. Till date(almost 16 months past) I didn’t received any mail from London VO, my E-case shown in process since that time (Based on review of your complete application package, it has been determined that your application is eligible for processing .Processing has begun). And while in the CIC site they had mentioned processing time for our case it will take 17 months to complete all process.

Kindly advice whether there are any roles leading for this delaying or its normal process and we should wait only .can we do any think at this stage.

I have submitted for the FSW 2013 my docs got to CIC May 10th and was received and signed for. However, I found out I didn’t include my Travel form and later sent it and it was received. I am concerned about how they will attach that to my application since I don’t have a UCI number yet. I also left out those part on my forms blank that I though doesn’t concern me instead of filling NONE or N/A. Aside that all other things was fine. Will my document be returned for this reasons?

Hello Guys! I am posting this because I have not seen any updates on this site lately.. No questions from anyone no answers from Wayne.. I hope he is doing well and will spare some time to answer the questions from many of his followers.

Since the time I have submitted my application, I am trying to forget that I have applied for piece of my mind; but everyday I login to various blogs to check how are things going on for other mates interested to be in Canada. Wait period is always been toughest period for me ~

I wish there was a tracking system from day 1 of your application receiving date. Proper timelines should be provided to candidates for better visibility – after all we have Rights to Information.

Wayne – Do you have any idea if the process described above has any changes this year? Also, I have specific question around background checks – I had supporting funds in my account but last weekend there was medical emergency at my home (father met accident) and have spent some money from the fund available (just 300 CND short of limit now). I will get claim money from insurance by end of this week and my account will be back to expected balance. Can you please suggest if the shortage of balance for couple of weeks may affect the back ground verification process? Also, please suggest at what time these checks do happen?

My last reply was 2 days ago, so I am answering questions I can assure you🙂 I have also updated the front page with news of the new May 4th intake and updated the blogroll on the left hand side to include links for the May 2013 applicants and spreadsheet on David Cohen’s http://www.canadavisa.com forum.

However, owing to the volume of posts on here I said some time ago that I would not be able to respond to every single thing that gets posted here.

There are some changes to the process, when I get time I will try to properly document what the differences are and update the various pages on the blog. But as you can appreciate that is a time consuming task.

The MAIN things to note about the May 2013 intake
1) There are now 24 in demand occupations, and one must have 1 year’s continuous employment experience in one of these 24 NOCs to be eligible to apply without a job offer
2) Each occupation has a cap of 300 with a total cap of 5000 applications
3) A new points matrix has been constructed. One still needs 67 points but the criteria calculations are a little difference. For example, age points favor younger applicants, and adaptability points are no longer gained for spouse’s education, but rather spouse’s language skills (proof of language for spouse is required to get those extra points, but it otherwise optional)
4) Probably the biggest change, all qualifications and credentials must be assessed for their Canadian equivalencies by an approved body such as WES, and the education calculations of the points matrix will be based on this evaluation.

As I said I will endeavour to fully update all the pages for the new May 2013 rules, but this is likely to take a week or two before I can find time to do it.

Nirmal in response to your question about funds, at any time prior to or during the process you can “dip into” the funds as long as you can clearly show them going in and out and explain the reasons. Please be aware though that you should ensure you have at least 90% of these funds available during processing and be able to top this up to 100% at short notice, since the visa office AT ANY TIME can ask for fully proof of funds.

They occasionally do this as a spotcheck to act as a deterrant from applicants fraudulently borrowing funds that do not belong to them and claiming the money as their own.
At the time of landing the full funds, in CAD or an easily transferable currency such as USD, GBP or Euro, must be there and readily available to take with you into Canada.

I wonder if you can help me. I applied for PR under Canadian Experience Class and my application was received on the 30th April six weeks ago. I have heard nothing back from the CIO in Sydney although I have confirmation from my registered post that Somebody in the CIO in Sydney signed for it. My credit card has still not been charged even though my friend who sent his application sane time as me was able to get his credit card charged within the first week they received it. Because its taken so long does this in fact mean there is a problem with my application or that they have lost my application. I am panicking as my work permit expires
in less than two months! Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

hi
actually my case is little different . i applied and den rejected and embassy refunded back d money dey again opened on 22 may 2012 and i recieved intimation for medicals and passport submission , we did it on 9 march2013 and e cas was showing in process and yesterday it was showing Decision made …. i am very nervous . plz help me and tell wat does it means??????? mine case was under 29 list.i applied in federal skilled on 25 march 2010……. plz positive otherwise i will get an attack for sure

Hi,
I applied in march 2012 and after getting PER in April my ecas was showing In Process. On 5th June another line was added that we have started processing your application on 5th june. I need to know that what does it means and what to expect from now on. Can i expect an MR soon?
Please advice….

Plz also give me your precious help…i have first applied in June 2011 under FSW electrical trade for tronto but did not receive any confirmation or temporary file number…after inquiry we came to know that bar code papers are changed and then we again did correct bar code papers along with fresh PCC and funds in Feb 2012…but now it is July 2013 and i am still without any confirmation that my case is going on or not…no temporary or permanent file number received..

I applied in Jan 2012 and everything till now was okay. I was waiting for employment verification over the call but all of sudden there came two officers from the Delhi embassy to verify my job in person. From that day, I havn’t received anything.

Hello,
I applied for FSW with arranged employment in April,2013. My application reached CIO on April 29,2013 & money order encashed on May 7,2013. My Ecas status has been updated to “In process” since May 17, 2013 but haven’t received PER email yet. CIO replied to my email query saying that my application is awaiting review from officer & provided me application number. Could you please let me know what does they mean my saying ” application awaiting review by officer”. Application status is in “In process” since last two month but still haven’t received PER email. So getting worried about it. Plz share your thoughts on my situation. I would be thankful for your reply. – Gaurav

HELLO MY PASSPORT IS WITH CHC LONDON SINCE 4TH JUNE-2013. I SENT PASSPORTS IN A SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOP FROM DUBAI. MY ECAS STATUS CHANGED TO DECISION MADE ON 14TH JULY-2013. I TRIED TO CONTACT THEM BY EMAIL AND PHONE BUT NO REPLY RECEIVED. I AM WORRIED.. PLEASE HELP…..

I applied for FSW programme. Application reached Sydney the same week the cap was reached. We are not sure if our application is part of the cap. When do we hear from them if it has fallen within the cap? Please advise

I applied for FSW in August 2013 and I have a confirmation from the courier agency that the package has been delivered to CIC. I see that CIC updates the number of applications received in each category on a weekly basis. How can I know if my application has been reviewed for completeness check?

I had sent my application for PR under FSW programme to sydney. It reached them on 1st week of april(2012)& within 2weeks i got a file numb. finally my papers were moved to CHC New Delhi. From CHC i got a email on may 4th week saying my applcation was received for PR. In 1st week of sept i was updated saying application is in process,within 2weeks i got my medicals. I did my medicals on oct 2nd week. As i was recently married i thought i can attach my wife documents along with my medicals requested my CIC. In last week of april(2013) my wife got her medicals & we were also told to submit both of our passports & RPRF to CHC New Delhi with some more additional documents.
Whereas in CIC website it was updated that the processing times under FSW category has been extended from 12months to 19months. so we are confused @ what stage our processing time has began?whether our processing time counts from the day we sent our application to sydney? OR When we got file numb? OR When CHC New Delhi received our application? OR when CHC New Delhi started processing application?

Hello Rossy,
For adding your wife , You had paid the processing fee $490 in Canadian dollar only or Indian Money ? And when you got intimation for your medicals through email ,did they send you the medical form along with it ? If Not , when you got it and how will we got it, email or post ? How yo paid your permanent resident fee : Canadian dollar or Indian Money ?

I AM PR FSW CATEGORY SINCE 2012 JANUARY . MY EMPLOYMENT VERFICATION DONE ON SEPT.2012.AFTER THAT CHC DOEST NOT CONTACT WITH ME .ANY BODY SUGGEST ME HOW MUCH TIME CHC WILL TAKE MORE TO FINALIZE MY CASE .? PLZ SUGEST
ME THXX.

Deepak you will hear from them within next 2months. Now the files with the year 2012 are being opend. Same with me as well. My employment verification was dont in May 2013 since then i hav heard nothing from them. In between there was strike for about 2-3 months so the processing time was extended.

Hi, I would like to ask your opinion on this. I have submitted all my documents for my application to our agent and they told us that they have forwarded our documents already to CIC. Is it true that if the Agent submitted our application they won’t get any paper confirmation or proof that the CIC recieved the papers? As per our agent, we just have to wait as long as the CIC do not return our papers yet then we just have to wait? According to them, the CIC will provide an application number once they started processing our application. My concern is, what if your application got lost by the CIC and our Agent do not have any proof that they forwarded it to CIC?